Massive Bank and High Profile Resignations Across the World

[Sabrina]

Sabrina, Has the HUGE E.U./Bank of Spain come up in any of your research? Santander...

I have a law suit pending with these freaks currently for ADA Discrimination and Retaliation. I have never worked for a company that was so MORALLY and ETHICALLY BANKRUPT and I worked at The Federal Reserve which is saying a LOT... that place is bad! The stories I could tell.
Anyway, would love to read any info on Santander.


The info. carried in the UK press in the past has been about large number of consumer complaints when Santander first came into UK high streets (and took over Alliance and Leicester) GoodeTXSG. Their customer care and admin. seemed pretty shambolic. And that's only what you see publicly! S.


Is Santander Britain's worst bank?
Santander gained a million customers last year, and pays the highest rate on an Isa. It's also top of the complaints league
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/feb/26/santander-britains-worst-bank

And the power of the net :):

http://santander-consumer.pissedconsumer.com/



http://www.moneywise.co.uk/banking-saving/current-accounts/why-santanders-service-so-poor

Why is Santander's service so poor?

Jeff Prestridge believes Santander's administrative issues are symptomatic of the problems across the financial industry.

For the past few months, I've been up to my ankles in complaints - not of my own making, I hasten to add. I've never received such an angry barrage since I asked Financial Mail readers fortheir views on the Post Office's controversial decision to axe 2,500 branches in 2006.

This time the complaints all centre on the administrative incompetence of the Spanish-owned bank Santander. The bank has established a massive presence on Britain's high street through its takeover of Abbey (or 'Shabby Abbey' as it was usually referred to), and more recently the acquisition of credit crunch-impacted Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley.

In more than 20 years of reporting on personal finance issues, I've never witnessed an administrative meltdown quite like that which has taken place at Santander.

[Sabrina]

Bo’s brother resigns from China Everbright board
April 26, 2012By China News Center


By Sisi Tang and Kelvin Soh

HONG KONG |
Wed Apr 25, 2012 1:52pm EDT


HONG KONG (Reuters) – The fallout from the ouster of former Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai spread on Wednesday as his brother resigned as vice chairman of China Everbright International Ltd and the company moved to distance itself from the Chinese political scandal.


Bo Xiyong was using the name Li Xueming, but the Hong Kong company’s registry documents record that Li and Bo, Bo Xilai’s elder brother, are the same person.


The construction, water and waste investment holding company made no reference to Li’s relationship with Bo Xilai, but said the resignation was “to minimize any possible adverse impact on the company of certain reports recently published by the media on his family background.”


Li’s departure from a post he has held since 2003 signals a widening scrutiny of Bo’s family connections as China’s leaders seek to contain the scandal ahead of this year’s transfer of power from President Hu Jintao to the next generation, likely to be led by Vice President Xi Jinping.


Bo Xilai, the son of Bo Yibo, a former Chinese vice premier and revolutionary who fought alongside Mao Zedong, was removed as party secretary of Chongqing in March, and stripped of his Politburo post in April.


He is being investigated for violating party discipline. His wife, Gu Kailai, is under investigation for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.


Bo’s downfall was precipitated by his former police chief, Wang Lijun, seeking refuge at the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu. Bo Xilai ran Chongqing and had clear ambitions to ascend to China’s top leadership later this year — the Communist Party’s nine man Standing Committee.


Since then, details have begun to emerge about Bo and his family, prompting his son, the Oxford- and Harvard-educated Bo Guagua, to refute speculation about his private and family life.


and


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/26/world/asia/brother-of-bo-xilai-fallen-chinese-politician-resigns-lucrative-business-role-at-everbright-international.html

[Sabrina]

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/134827/female-party-boss-leaves-united-russia-.html



Female Party Boss Leaves United Russia




Thursday, 26 April 2012 RUssia

Lyubov Sliska, once one of the highest-ranking women in United Russia’s hierarchy, said on Wednesday that she quit Russia’s ruling party because it had no use for her.

The 58-year-old Sliska said United Russia failed to employ her in recent years due to suppression of all discussion inside the party, which is gradually losing public support.

“United Russia and I don’t need each other anymore,” Sliska said. She added she has no plans to join any other party at the moment.

Sliska, who was held deputy speaker jobs in the State Duma between 1999 and 2011, said she filed her resignation letter in March, but did not announce it before. She said last June she would not seek reelection, a decision media blamed on her conflict with the party’s then-curator in the government, Vyacheslav Volodin.

Sliska’s former party comrade Sergei Zheleznyak expressed regret at her dropping out, but said the party is as vibrant as ever, with hot discussions raging in the Duma and thousands joining it every month.

United Russia barely managed to retain a majority at the December parliamentary polls. Its victory was blamed on vote rigging by many critics, who rallied in the tens of thousands in Moscow after the vote.

President-elect Vladimir Putin, who heads United Russia without being a member, announced on Tuesday that he is handing over the reins to his outgoing predecessor Dmitry Medvedev. Analysts said the move likely spelled the beginning of the end for the flagging party of power.

[Sabrina]

http://keranews.org/post/dallas-philanthropist-kern-wildenthal-forced-resign

Dallas Philanthropist Kern Wildenthal Forced To Resign


In the aftermath of Kern Wildenthal’s resignation as special assistant to UT Southwestern Medical Center’s president, the school says it will immediately strengthen audit functions.

It will also improve documentation tied to expense reports, to assure strict adherence. An investigation into Wildenthal’s travel and entertainment expenses called the judgment of the former UT Southwestern Medical Center President “questionable.”

It found that UT money spent on his overseas travel and meals benefited him personally, while documents often failed to show benefits to the school.

Over the years, Doctor Wildenthal helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars for UT Southwestern. He will step down as president of the Southwestern Medical Foundation. Also on Tuesday, UT Southwestern auditor Robert Rubel resigned, UT System auditor Charles Chaffin retired, and last month, CFO John Roan retired.

[wynderer]

from Sabrina's post #751

http://www.moneywise.co.uk/banking-s...ervice-so-poor

Why is Santander's service so poor?

Jeff Prestridge believes Santander's administrative issues are symptomatic of the problems across the financial industry.

For the past few months, I've been up to my ankles in complaints - not of my own making, I hasten to add. I've never received such an angry barrage since I asked Financial Mail readers fortheir views on the Post Office's controversial decision to axe 2,500 branches in 2006.

i'm still trying to figure out the 'why' of all these resignations -- i've concluded that Drake, Wilcock, & Fulford are not telling the truth [for whatever reason -- i don't really care why ] - but the clip above suggests that maybe they are all resigning because they fear the righteous anger of The People?

when the Patriot Act was passed in my country, i freaked out -- a blueprint for fascism if i ever saw one -- i was active in getting a Bill of Rights Defense Resolution passed by the county in which i was living at the time, took part in protests, & tried to tell everyone what was in those 500 plus pages

this was extremely discouraging, & i came to the conclusion that my fellow countrymen & women were not going to wake up until their wallets & their bellies were affected

if my thought that maybe all these big wigs are resigning because they know that people everywhere are really fed up -- that's a good thing -- but it also suggests that Humans as a whole are just like those in my country -- waking up only when their personal survival is threatened -- better late than never, i suppose -- but having been an activist since the age of 10, & thus learning first-hand how uncaring most Humans are about the loss of life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness w/to others as long as it doesn't touch their own little lives --it saddens me that Humans will rise up about $$ but not about freedom

when i get really discouraged w/Humans , i think about that day before 'Shock & Awe' [the start of my country's war against the Iraqi people] when millions & millions of us took to the streets all over the world, basically saying NO MORE WAR!

hope you don't mind this post, Sabrina -- you are doing a superb job of giving the what & who facts -- but i always look for the why behind the what & who

[crosby]

i do not know which thread to post these two articles in so i will place them here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/26/us-warcrimes-taylor-idUSBRE83P0J720120426

"(Reuters) - A United Nations-backed court convicted former Liberian president Charles Taylor of war crimes on Thursday, the first time an African head of state has been found guilty by an international tribunal.

Taylor, 64, was charged with 11 counts of murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers and sexual slavery during intertwined wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, during which more than 50,000 people were killed.

They took more than two hours to read out the charges, evidence and its final ruling."

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/26/world/europe/uk-phone-hacking-murdoch/?hpt=hp_t1

"London (CNN) -- Rupert Murdoch admitted to a phone-hacking cover-up at one of his tabloid newspapers and apologized Thursday for not paying more attention to a scandal that has convulsed his media empire and rocked the British political establishment.

"I also have to say that I failed," he said before a long pause. "And I am very sorry for it."

Murdoch also admitted to a "cover-up" of phone hacking at his British Sunday tabloid The News of the World, but said his News Corp. had been a victim of it, not the perpetrator."

regards, corson

[Sabrina]

pharma lot are starting to jump ship as well...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/apr/26/astra-zeneca-ceo-quits-profits-tumble

26 April

AstraZeneca CEO quits as profits tumble
David Brennan will be replaced on an interim basis by chief financial officer Simon Lowth while a permanent successor from inside or outside the company is found

AstraZeneca chief executive David Brennan is to step down on 1 June in an abrupt exit that follows rising investor discontent at the company's performance.

Underlying profits fell 19% in the first quarter, underscoring the drug company's need to find new sources of growth as key products lose patent protection.

Britain's second-biggest drugmaker has recently stepped up its pace of deal-making, to bring in more promising new drugs from other companies, but Brennan has been under fire from some investors for not acting sooner.

Brennan will be replaced on an interim basis by chief financial officer Simon Lowth while a permanent successor from inside or outside the company is found, AstraZeneca said on Thursday.

At the same time, Leif Johansson will succeed Louis Schweitzer as non-executive chairman on 1 June - three months earlier than planned - and will become chairman of the nomination and governance committee after the annual meeting later on Thursday.

That will put the former Volvo boss in pole position to select a replacement for Brennan.

AstraZeneca faces a slump in sales, following the loss of patent cover on antipsychotic Seroquel last month, while heartburn pill Nexium and its top-selling heart drug Crestor lose US protection in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

It has few new drugs in development to replace these big sellers and its problems mean it trades on only around seven times this year's expected earnings, the lowest multiple for any major international drug company.

Although the main hit from the loss of Seroquel is yet to come, group sales already fell 11% in the first three months, weighed down by a tough year-ago comparison and generic competition for Nexium and other drugs in Europe.

Sales in the quarter were $7.35bn, generating "core" earnings, which exclude certain items, down 19% at $1.81 a share.

Analysts, on average, had forecast sales in the quarter of $7.92bn and earnings of $1.79 per share, according to Thomson Reuters.

[Sabrina]

http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/25/high-ranking-doj-official-to-resign-amid-fast-and-furious-virgin-islands-bribery-scandals/
25 April

High-ranking DOJ official to resign amid Fast and Furious, Virgin Islands bribery scandals

U.S. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich plans to resign his position soon, as two different scandals rage on in which he has provided allegedly misleading information to Congress.

Weich, who has served as Attorney General Eric Holder’s emissary in congressional communications, will become the next dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law in July, according to the National Law Journal.

The DOJ official is the same Holder deputy who falsely told Congress that neither the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives nor any part of the Department of Justice ever allowed illicit firearms to “walk” across the U.S.-Mexico border — even as contrary facts emerged from the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious.

On Feb. 4, 2011, Weich wrote to Congress that the idea that “ATF ‘sanctioned’ or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico … is false.”

“ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico,” Weich added in that letter.

The DOJ has since retracted Weich’s letter but has not held anyone accountable for providing that misinformation to Congress, or for Operation Fast and Furious itself.

Scores of lawmakers — 125 House members, three U.S. Senators, two governors — and many major political figures including likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney have demanded Holder’s resignation or firing over Fast and Furious.

[Sabrina]

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/04/26/210474.html
26 April
Jordan’s prime minister resigns, ex-premier Tarawneh to form new government

Jordan’s King Abdullah II has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh on Thursday and asked ex-premier Fayez al-Tarawneh to form the new government, Al Arabiya reported citing sources at the royal palace.

The resignation comes barely six months after Khasawneh formed a government to bring in much-needed reforms.

Khasawneh, 62, an International Court of Justice judge, formed his cabinet in October and won a comfortable vote of confidence for his government from parliament in December after pledging to push ahead with reforms.

Jordanians have been demonstrating since January last year, demanding sweeping political and economic reforms as well as an end to corruption, according to AFP.

But his proposed election law drew criticism, including from tribal parliamentarians and the powerful intelligence services, who felt it favored Islamist politicians.

A minister who declined to be named told Reuters Khasawneh took the unusual step of submitting his resignation while outside the country in response to a decision to extend a parliamentary session in which he was likely to face further criticism.

“It was a surprise move. The prime minister was unhappy about the decision to extend parliament,” the minister said.

Khasawneh was a former chief of the royal court and a legal advisor to the Jordanian team that negotiated a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.

Tarawneh is also a former chief of the royal court, foreign minister, and ambassador to the U.S. He headed the Jordanian delegation to the negotiations with Israel that led to the peace agreement in 1994.

[Sabrina]

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/gilani-convicted-of-contempt-of-court-no-reason-to-resign-says-cabinet-202802
26 April

Gilani convicted of contempt of court; no reason to resign says Pakistan's cabinet

Islamabad: Pakistan's cabinet today decided that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, found guilty of contempt by the Supreme Court this morning, does not need to resign on moral grounds because he has not been convicted for a criminal offense.

The Pakistan Supreme Court has held Mr Gilani guilty of contempt for refusing to reopen an old corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari. The court convicted him till the rising of the court, which means that the PM was not arrested or jailed; in a symbolic sentence that lasted about 30 seconds, he had to remain in court as the seven judges of the bench delivered judgement, rose and left the court. (Read court order)

Opposition leaders Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan have demanded that Mr Gilani step down immediately. "If the Prime Minister will not obey the law, why will anyone else in the country?' asked Tehrik-e-Insaaf chief Imran Khan.

[Sabrina]

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/apr2012/murd-a26.shtml

26 April

Forced resignation hits at heart of Cameron government after Murdoch testimony


Rupert Murdoch is to complete two days of testimony before the Leveson Inquiry into the British media today. But even as questioning of the multi-billionaire began, evidence submitted by his son, James, had forced the resignation of one ministerial adviser, and forced Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt to defend himself in parliament against allegations of collusion with Murdoch’s News Corporation.
The Leveson Inquiry was set up following the scandal involving the now defunct News of the World, involving widespread phone-hacking and the corruption, bribery and intimidation of police officers and public officials. The Leveson Inquiry, however, is limited to examining the “ethics, culture and practices” of Britain’s media in general.

The Murdochs last gave evidence before the Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee in July 2011. At the hearing, both Murdochs continued to deny they had any knowledge of illegal activity at News Corps’ British subsidiary, News International—attempting to blame those on their payroll while denying any failure of “corporate governance”.

But in his evidence on Tuesday, James Murdoch, former head of News International, effectively lit a political fire under the Cameron government.

News Corp had handed the Inquiry 163 pages of emails between its public affairs executive Frédéric Michel and Jeremy Hunt and his office. The emails centre on the time during which Hunt was meant to be acting in a quasi-judicial capacity, adjudicating on Murdoch’s £8 billion attempted takeover of the pay TV channel, BSkyB.

They reveal that shortly after the takeover bid was announced in July 2010, Hunt’s special adviser Adam Smith had assured the Murdochs that “the UK government would be supportive throughout the process”.

At this time, matters relating to media competition were the responsibility of the Liberal Democrat Vince Cable as Business Secretary. Emails recorded that Cable was under “intense pressure” over the bid, because of the Murdoch newspapers’ hostility to the Liberal Democrats before they joined the Tory-led coalition in May that year.

With other media groups opposing the takeover, Cable had called in the media regulator, Ofcom, to scrutinise the bid. But shortly afterward, in December, Cable was stripped of his responsibilities. The pro-Conservative Daily Telegraph had recorded him making disparaging comments about his Tory coalition partners. But a whistleblower then leaked other transcripted comments, undisclosed by the Telegraph, to the BBC’s Robert Peston, who is close to the Murdochs, recording him stating, “I have declared war on Mr. Murdoch and I think we are going to win.”

Hunt was placed in charge. James Murdoch admitted that he had contacted Hunt immediately on his appointment on December 21. It was shortly afterwards, he testified, that Michel was established as a “P.O. Box” for contact between the Murdochs and the government.
A secret channel was established through which Hunt’s office not only actively supported the Murdoch bid, but passed on sensitive information on talks within government and with Ofcom—as well as reporting discussions with Murdoch’s rivals in the other media groups.
An email from Michel recorded that Hunt had received “very strong legal advice” that he should not meet Murdoch while the bid was underway. Michel suggested James “have a chat with him [Hunt] on his mobile” instead.

James responded angrily, “You must be ****ing joking. I will text him and find a time.”

An email on December 24 from Michel to James reports, “Just spoke to JH [Jeremy Hunt]. Said he was very happy for me to be the point of contact with him/Adam [Smith] on behalf of JRM [James Murdoch]…”

In another, Michel wrote, “JH” had warned that it was “very important to avoid giving ‘the anti[Murdoch bid]’ any opportunity to attack the fairness” of his office’s oversight.

Later Michel emailed details of the legal arguments formulated by Murdoch’s media opponents to the takeover. “JH confidential please read,” he wrote. “JH would welcome our critical views on the Slaughter & May submission to help him forge his arguments.”
When it appeared Ofcom might hinder the bid, Michel recorded, “Spoke to Hunt. He made again a plea to try and find as many errors as we can in the Ofcom report and propose some strong and ‘impactful’ remedies”.

As the phone-hacking scandal continued to spread, Cameron’s press adviser and former News of the World editor, Andy Coulson, was forced to resign on January 21, 2011. Two days later, Michel informed James, “He [Hunt] still wants to stick to the following plan.”

According to Michel, this was the agreement already made between Hunt and Murdoch to get past the regulators by News Corp offering to “spin off” Sky News at some point. Once this was publicly announced, Michel recorded, Hunt was of the opinion that “its almost game over for the opposition.”

An email on January 24 shows that James was supplied with the wording of Hunt’s official statement for delivery the following day, in time for the opening of the stock market.

“Confidential: Managed to get some infos [sic] on the plans for tomorrow [although absolutely illegal!]. Press statement at 7.30am…”
On February 9, 2011, Michel emailed James that he had spoken to “JH” that evening about Ofcom’s proposal for the bid to be referred to the Competition Commission. “JH” asked if the Murdochs were prepared “to negotiate at all… He said he couldn't ignore Ofcom, he had brought them into this OFT [Office of Fair Trading] process to get some cover and in public debate he would get absolutely killed if he did such a thing.”

Michel informed “JH” that he needed “some backbone”.

By June, the Murdochs had run out of patience. On June 3, Michel wrote to James, “As discussed, I just had very strong conversation with JH and explained we had now no intention of engaging further in any more commercial negotiations with OFT or Ofcom… I insisted he needed to get a grip… I also floated the threat that… we could decide at any moment to withdraw… JH repeated he was definitely keen to see this through as quickly as possible.”

On June 30, 2011, Hunt approved the takeover, subject to the completion of consultations on July 8. Within days, however, details of the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone emerged, the News of the World was closed down, and Murdoch’s BSkyB bid was considered off-limits.
In his statement on Wednesday Hunt—who last year told parliament that any contact with the Murdochs had “been minuted and done through official channels”—claimed he knew nothing about the “inappropriate” contact between Smith and Michel and refused demands for his resignation.

Smith had resigned earlier that morning, claiming that he had acted without Hunt’s authority and had inadvertently “created the perception that News Corporation had too close a relationship with the department.”
More fundamentally, Cameron himself is in the frame.

The prime minister has repeatedly denied ever having an “inappropriate conversation” with either of the Murdochs over the BSkyB deal and dismissed contrary claims as “fevered conspiracy theories”.

James Murdoch’s testimony, however, revealed that he and then News International chief executive, and former News of the World editor, Rebekah Brooks had dined with Cameron on December 23, 2010—two days after Cable’s removal from the BSkyB bid and just as the backdoor conduit between Michel and Hunt was being established.

Murdoch told the inquiry that he recalled “speaking briefly to the prime minister” on the BSkyB bid during their meeting.
In addition, late on Wednesday it emerged that Hunt had held discussions in the US with News Corp in August 2009, when the group was considering its bid for BSkyB.

The Guardian reported, “Almost immediately after Hunt’s trip, James Murdoch visited David Cameron in London, and privately told him that News Corp had agreed to switch support to the Tories in the upcoming election. Hunt then became culture secretary in the victorious Tory government.”

[Sabrina]

No resignation on this one, but perhaps one day....

http://www.naturalnews.com/035690_Merck_Vioxx_marketing.html


Merck ordered to pay $321 million criminal fine for illegally marketing Vioxx painkiller

(NaturalNews) Drug giant Merck & Co., creator of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil, has been ordered by a federal judge in Boston, Mass., to fork over $321 million in criminal fines for illegally marketing Vioxx, a dangerous painkiller drug that was pulled from the market in 2004 because taking the drug doubles a patient's risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

According to reports, Merck pleaded guilty to charges of illegally promoting Vioxx for rheumatoid arthritis before it was approved for such use, even after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reprimanded the company for doing this in 2001. Immediately after Vioxx was approved by the FDA in 1999 for treating acute pain, Merck reportedly began promoting its use among patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

The decision comes just months after Merck agreed to pay more than $600 million to the federal government, 43 states, and the District of Columbia to settle various other suits pertaining to the company's illegal marketing tactics. Though Merck did not admit guilt in all of those cases, the drug maker's willingness to pay nearly $1 billion in combined fines for criminal and illegal marketing was still accepted by the court.

"I'm certainly going to accept this agreement because I think it's in the public interest," said U.S. District Judge Patti Saris who accepted the plea. "I hope the size of this settlement and the fact that all these cases are being pressed by the federal and state governments -- the 44 states' attorneys general -- will be a signal that this isn't acceptable conduct."

$1 billion is nothing compared to the more than $12 billion Merck generated from Vioxx

But $1 billion is just a drop in the bucket for Merck, since Vioxx generated roughly $2.5 billion in sales during the years that it was on the market. Collectively, this translates into more than $12 billion worth of revenues for Merck during Vioxx's life cycle, which is a hefty amount that contrasts sharply to the relatively paltry $1 billion it has agreed to pay.

Besides a few other incidents where Merck has paid out a few million dollars here and there, the company has largely gotten off scot-free with Vioxx. None of Merck's corporate executives are being held personally responsible for the thousands of former Vioxx users that were injured by the drug, and they are not being held criminally liable for their company's illegal marketing of the drug.

So in the end, what these criminal and civil fines amount to is nothing more than a drug industry payoff to the federal government for Merck's illegal activity. Merck still made off with at least $10 billion of revenues from Vioxx, and the federal government and a few individuals have received a few million dollars in the process. And so it goes in the criminal cartel that is the drug industry's cozy relationship with Big Pharma.

[Sabrina]

Shareholders are starting to flex their muscles all over the place!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9230110/Barclays-chairman-Marcus-Agius-to-apologise-to-shareholders-for-mishandling-executive-pay-row.html
26 April UK

Barclays chairman Marcus Agius to apologise to shareholders for mishandling executive pay row
Marcus Agius, the chairman of Barclays, is to take the unprecedented step of apologising to shareholders over the bank's mishandling of the pay of its top executives.

On Friday, Mr Agius will accept that the bank has not done a good enough job of making its case over remuneration - including the controversial financial arrangements for its chief executive, Bob Diamond - which has sparked a revolt among shareholders.

It is thought he may also pledge to give shareholders a better return on their cash, moving the balance of rewards away from its executives.
Mr Agius is expected to tell shareholders: "Evidently, we have not done a good enough job in articulating our case: on some matters we should have communicated earlier and more clearly.

"For this I apologise and I assure you that in the future we will be engaging differently and more purposefully with shareholders in order to ensure that we obtain a broader level of support on remuneration policy and practice."

As many as a third of the bank's investors are expected to vote against the bank's remuneration report at the annual general meeting in London on Friday.

full story at link

and


Barclays chief Bob Diamond set to lose half his bonus

Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond is set to lose half his bonus for the year after the bank's financial results showed he was likely to miss a new performance target agreed with shareholders.

[KiwiElf]

Posted via the Facebook Global Resignation page - don't know if anyone knows about this? S.



Concerning the DECLARATION OF INSOLVENCY by the United States as to its obligations allegedly owed to the Federal Reserve banks, see:

http://www.supremelaw.org/cc/fox2/insolvency.htm

http://www.supremelaw.org/cc/fox2/interpleader.htm
...
See More
UNITED STATES' DECLARATION OF INSOLVENCY
www.supremelaw.org
The United States ex rel. hereby notoriously interpleads in the above entitled case for the purpose of formally declaring insolvency as to obligations allegedly payable to the Federal Reserve Banks.

This one is potentially huge if it's true?

[GoodETxSG]

Sabrina, Has the HUGE E.U./Bank of Spain come up in any of your research? Santander...

I have a law suit pending with these freaks currently for ADA Discrimination and Retaliation. I have never worked for a company that was so MORALLY and ETHICALLY BANKRUPT and I worked at The Federal Reserve which is saying a LOT... that place is bad! The stories I could tell.
Anyway, would love to read any info on Santander.


The info. carried in the UK press in the past has been about large number of consumer complaints when Santander first came into UK high streets (and took over Alliance and Leicester) GoodeTXSG. Their customer care and admin. seemed pretty shambolic. And that's only what you see publicly! S.


Is Santander Britain's worst bank?
Santander gained a million customers last year, and pays the highest rate on an Isa. It's also top of the complaints league
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/feb/26/santander-britains-worst-bank

And the power of the net :):

http://santander-consumer.pissedconsumer.com/



http://www.moneywise.co.uk/banking-saving/current-accounts/why-santanders-service-so-poor

Why is Santander's service so poor?

Jeff Prestridge believes Santander's administrative issues are symptomatic of the problems across the financial industry.

For the past few months, I've been up to my ankles in complaints - not of my own making, I hasten to add. I've never received such an angry barrage since I asked Financial Mail readers fortheir views on the Post Office's controversial decision to axe 2,500 branches in 2006.

This time the complaints all centre on the administrative incompetence of the Spanish-owned bank Santander. The bank has established a massive presence on Britain's high street through its takeover of Abbey (or 'Shabby Abbey' as it was usually referred to), and more recently the acquisition of credit crunch-impacted Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley.

In more than 20 years of reporting on personal finance issues, I've never witnessed an administrative meltdown quite like that which has taken place at Santander.

THANK YOU, you are a great researcher. If you Google "Santander Consumer USA Discrimination" it will pop up a lot of new sites including the Facebook site about my lawsuit against them for ADA Discrimination against PTSD/Seizures etc... From working for the company for a year it was pretty pathetic. They joked about their customers... kind of like Muppet Gate. They openly talked about the companies’ lack of ethics. I finally experienced them first hand. Corruption is a cancer... crazy how I ended up working for so many Banks. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas included. Nast stuff. Thanks again for spending time on this bank. I found a lot of the Consumer Rip off and complaint sites as well as there being two class action law suits against them right now... Some of those victims are going to attend the protest.
TY Again...
http://www.facebook.com/jobdiscrimination?ref=tn_tnmn

[Avocadess]

Apologies if this was already posted (from rumormillnews.com):

Posted By: Rayelan
Date: Thursday, 26-Apr-2012 15:53:24

Press Release: 24 April 2012

Michael Tellinger

Launches Constitutional Court Action Against

Standard Bank; and

The South African Reserve Bank; and

The Minister of Finance.

After a slight technical hiccup last Friday at the Constitutional Court, regarding the binding of a substantially long legal document, Michael Tellinger made global history on the 23rd & 24th April 2012, in Johannesburg when he filed his 1100-page NOTICE OF MOTION against Standard Bank in the Constitutional Court of South Africa, accusing the bank of unlawful and unconstitutional activity. The case number allocated by the Constitutional Court is CCT 28/12.

Tellinger also served the NOTICE OF MOTION on the RESERVE BANK OF SOUTH AFRICA and the MINISTER OF FINANCE, alleging that they are jointly and consciously implicated in the unscrupulous and devious activity that has led to unimaginable financial hardship of the South African people.

There is hardly any South African who has not been harmed in some way by the actions of the banks. For too long have banking giants been unassailable and untouchable by the common man.

It is now official and it can be claimed that never before has such a case been brought against any of these corporations at this level anywhere in the world, where for the first time a layperson has been given direct access to the Constitutional Court regarding the devious activities of the banks.

This case may have started as a matter of principle for Michael Tellinger against STD Bank, but it has escalated to such a degree that every South African and everyone in the world could be affected, because a positive outcome will result in a major public policy shift and the changing of the laws that govern the banks and bringing economic justice to the people.

Tellinger will argue that the lack of control and intervention by the MINISTER OF FINANCE has allowed the banks and the RESERVE BANK to do as they please with impunity and without recourse, and in the process have enslaved millions of honest, hard-working South Africans to a life of misery and debt through the banks’ unconstitutional and unlawful activities.

This historic case will attempt to redress the imbalance that has taken place for centuries by the few that have been called the banking elite. The Constitutional Court is the highest court on constitutional matters, its very foundation being the protector of human rights and its mandate to protect the people.

The Court is mandated to bring legislation in par with the constitutional framework principles and to develop common law principles. The legacy follows Nelson Mandela’s vision, that no matter who or what you represent, equality, justice and the people’s voice shall be harmonised before an independent, unbiased judicial system founded on the principles of rights enshrined in the Constitution.

This case will be a challenge for the Constitutional Court, and Tellinger trusts that it will make its findings properly, considering all the facts to redress the laws and do whatever it needs to do, to redress the hardship of the people caused by financial abuse.

Tellinger appeals to every South African that has been harmed by their bank to join this important action, so that it truly represents millions of honest, hardworking and trusting citizens who have been unable to do so for themselves.

Thousands have been repeatedly frustrated by the invisible protective legal shield around the banks, and the legal system that seems to support the banks.

“Many people carry severe personal grudges against the banks that have done them financial harm, but are powerless to do anything about it.” Said Tellinger

He added that “People are completely oblivious to how they have been conned and deceived by their banks about money and how it is created, but once they find out the terrible truth about how banks really operate and how they use our signature to profiteer on us, and how they make money out of thin air, they will be very angry and realise how important this action against the banks is” he added.

Tellinger urges each and every South African to read as much about this case as possible to inform themselves and to join the petition of signatures that will represent the rest of South Africa in the loudest voice ever presented at the Constitutional Court. Please go to http://www.thebigcase.co.za and sign the petition page.

Details of the hearing will follow as soon as we have been allocated a date by the court. We will keep everyone informed on the above website .

For more information contact Michael Tellinger at michael@zuluplanet.com

End.

[Sabrina]

Posted via the Facebook Global Resignation page - don't know if anyone knows about this? S.



Concerning the DECLARATION OF INSOLVENCY by the United States as to its obligations allegedly owed to the Federal Reserve banks, see:

http://www.supremelaw.org/cc/fox2/insolvency.htm

http://www.supremelaw.org/cc/fox2/interpleader.htm
...
See More
UNITED STATES' DECLARATION OF INSOLVENCY
www.supremelaw.org
The United States ex rel. hereby notoriously interpleads in the above entitled case for the purpose of formally declaring insolvency as to obligations allegedly payable to the Federal Reserve Banks.

This one is potentially huge if it's true?

Well I'd have thought so as well! But doesn't seem to be much 'noise' about it. As with the Drake claim that US states are lodging papers with International Hague Court to go back to original constitution (I keep banging on about this but shouldn't it be traceable and create a stir?). I'm the wrong side of the pond to dig too deep into all of this - any Avalonians in US know anything about any of the above? :)

[Sabrina]

Not going too well for Rupe - reputedly seemingly eager to help at the current London enquiry, but pretty cross and exasperated in the breaks....and isn't this really part of a much bigger tptb power struggle than is ever going to be reported?


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/9229535/Ofcom-steps-up-fit-and-proper-probe-into-BSkyB.html
27 April UK

Ofcom steps up 'fit and proper' probe into BSkyB
Ofcom has stepped up its probe into whether BSkyB is “fit and proper” to hold a broadcasting licence, demanding evidence from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for the first time.

The regulator has called on News Group Newspapers, the News Corp subsidiary which publishes The Sun and, formerly, the News of The World, to hand over documents relating to numerous court battles with alleged victims of phone hacking by the tabloids.

Ofcom has sweeping powers to revoke the licence of any broadcaster whose owners or management it does not deem to be “fit and proper” to hold such power.

The longstanding piece of legislation has rarely been used to close a broadcaster down in the past, but came to the foreground last summer when Ofcom used it to throw into turmoil News Corp’s £8bn bid to take full control of BSkyB. News Corp eventually pulled the bid.

The regulator has already made it clear that James Murdoch’s resignation as chairman of BSkyB does not make the broadcaster immune to having its licence revoked under the legislation.

In a statement released on the day Mr Murdoch stepped down, Ofcom warned that a licensee includes “controlling directors and shareholders" for the purposes of the test.

Eleanor Steyn, a former Ofcom lawyer now at Michael Simkin, said: "These broadcasting licenses are so valuable that if the ultimate sanction is that Ofcom is going to revoke it, BSkyB and News Corp are going to want to get their house in order."

James Murdoch remains on the BSkyB board as a non-executive director, and News Corp controls a 39pc stake in the broadcaster, raising the prospect that he will have to step down altogether and News Corp will have to sell down its stake.
Ofcom said earlier this month that the probe had moved from a monitoring phase to “evidence gathering”, but this is the first time it has called for News Corp or any company in which it has an interest to hand over documents.

“As part of [its] ongoing assessment Ofcom has contacted News Group Newspapers requesting documents which it understands are held by the company and which may be relevant to this assessment. BSkyB is party to this correspondence,” the regulator said in a statement.

“The documents Ofcom is seeking relate to the civil litigation cases. Ofcom is seeking to obtain documents that were ordered to be disclosed in the civil litigation between numerous complainants and News Group Newspapers.”

[Sabrina]

NYSE Euronext director resigns after shareholder vote

The Wall Street Journal
NYSE Euronext suffered an embarrassing defeat on Thursday when shareholders voted against the re-election of Ricardo Salgado, a director who had drawn criticism for his failure to attend at least 75% of the meetings held last year by the exchange's board and the committee on which he serves, which oversees compensation and human resources.

Salgado, vice-chairman of Portugal's Banco Espirito Santo, immediately offered to resign, as required by the exchange group's bylaws. His fellow directors weren't required to accept his resignation, but the board agreed to accept his departure late Thursday.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20120427000073&cid=1102&MainCatID=11


Reports of fund manager's resignation lead to massive pullout
Staff Reporter 2012-04-27
Wang Yawei, the deputy general of China Fund, one of the country's biggest fund families, may have submitted his resignation to the company. This information spread within the company and the fund investment market, leading to massive pullouts from the China AMC Large Cap Select Fund.

China AMC is the full name of Huaxia Fund Management Co.

Wang managed the fund for six-and-a-half years. The total return on the fund so far has been 1028%. Wang is reputed to be a star manager because China AMC Large Cap Select Fund performed the second best in the industry for four consecutive years since 2008.

Market observers are concerned about the damage the industry will suffer from Wang's resignation.

A source close to China AMC said media reports of Wang's resignation have led to massive redemptions of China AMC Large Cap Select Fund.

The company's financial report for the first quarter this year showed that both the sales and asset size of China AMC Large Cap Select Fund declined and one-fourth of the holdings in it were redeemed, the First Financial Daily reported.

Over the past few years, Wang's resignation has been incorrectly reported several times. However, this is the first time investors redeemed the fund's units in such large numbers.

China Fund has not denied Wang's resignation, and it is still unknown whether the company has accepted his resignation. Wang's resignation would have to be approved by the company's board of directors and the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

As an icon in the public equity fund industry, Wang's resignation could significantly impact the company and the industry, particularly at a time when China's securities regulators are seeking to rebuild investor confidence amid sluggishness in the industry, the report said.

[Sabrina]

Posted via the Facebook Global Resignation page - don't know if anyone knows about this? S.



Concerning the DECLARATION OF INSOLVENCY by the United States as to its obligations allegedly owed to the Federal Reserve banks, see:

http://www.supremelaw.org/cc/fox2/insolvency.htm

http://www.supremelaw.org/cc/fox2/interpleader.htm
...
See More
UNITED STATES' DECLARATION OF INSOLVENCY
www.supremelaw.org
The United States ex rel. hereby notoriously interpleads in the above entitled case for the purpose of formally declaring insolvency as to obligations allegedly payable to the Federal Reserve Banks.

This one is potentially huge if it's true?

Well I'd have thought so as well! But doesn't seem to be much 'noise' about it. As with the Drake claim that US states are lodging papers with International Hague Court to go back to original constitution (I keep banging on about this but shouldn't it be traceable and create a stir?). I'm the wrong side of the pond to dig too deep into all of this - any Avalonians in US know anything about any of the above? :)


Ah thanks! Glasssteagallfan has posted this thread today - and there's a debate there as to what it really means and how excited to get or not get - could just get excited 'cos it's Friday I suppose :).

The Drake paperwork is posted - FreedomReigns
The Drake paperwork is posted on the FreedomReigns.us website.

http://freedomreigns.us/States_Documents.html

[KiwiElf]

Well I'd have thought so as well! But doesn't seem to be much 'noise' about it. As with the Drake claim that US states are lodging papers with International Hague Court to go back to original constitution (I keep banging on about this but shouldn't it be traceable and create a stir?). I'm the wrong side of the pond to dig too deep into all of this - any Avalonians in US know anything about any of the above? :)

Yup, me too - not my field of "expertise". :(
Was thinking more along the lines of the Liens filed against the Federal Banks. ie IF the above is true, then are those banks declaring they are insolvent? Guess we will find out sooner or later.

[sdv]

Michael Tellinger

Launches Constitutional Court Action Against

Standard Bank; and

The South African Reserve Bank; and

The Minister of Finance.

I subscribed for the newsletter and the good news is that they got the support they needed to submit. Yay! This is going to be very interesting. This is what the Constitution Court is for (like the Supreme Court in US) - to protect and uphold the Constitution and protect the people.

Yes, this is not a 'Drake' hoax because the Constitutional Court has a record of the case ...


CASES AWAITING DIRECTIONS: WEEK ENDING ON 26 APRIL 2012

CASE NO PARTIES DATE RECEIVED
CCT 14/12 Tibhi Mgeqevu and Another v The State 23.03.12
CCT 15/12 Maubane Business & Property Consultants CC v Toyota Financial Services (SA)(PTY) LTD 26.03.12
CCT 16/12 Mario Gaspare Oriani-Ambrosini, MP v Maxwell Vuyisile Sisulu, MP 02.04.12
CCT 17/12 Congress of the People and Others v Mbhazima Shilowa and Others 04.04.12
CCT 18/12 Tony Phakiso Seganoe v The State 04.04.12
CCT 19/12 Mokone & Mokone Attorneys v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development 12.04.12
CCT 20/12 Dudley Lee v The Minister of Correctional Services 17.04.12
CCT 21/12 R Roestorf and Another v Johannesburg Municipal Pension Fund and Others 17.04.12
CCT 22/12 Andrew Kinloch Butters v Nomsa Virginia Mncora 18.04.12
CCT 23/12 Schubart Park Residents’ Association and others v The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and another 19.04.12
CCT 24/12 Minister of Home Affairs and another v Kadire Ibiro Ersumo 20.04.12
CCT 25/12 Giant Concerts CC v Rinaldo Investments (PTY) Ltd and others 20.04.12
CCT 26/12 Beweging Vir Christelike Volkseie Onderwys and Others v The Minister of Education 23.04.12
CCT 27/12 Murray & Roberts Limited and Others v National Scrap Metal (Cape Town) (PTY) Ltd and Another 23.04.12
CCT 28/12 Michal Julius Tellinger v The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited and Others 23.04.12CCT 29/12 Makhubele Hlengani Josias v National Director of Public Prosecutions and Another 25.04.12
CCT 30/12 South African Council For Consulting Professional Planners and Others v City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and Others 25.04.12

Go to the website yourself and find the evidence .. .
http://www.constitutionalcourt.org.za/site/home.htm

The bad news is that President Zuma got one of his cronies appointed as head of the Constitutional Court (despite vigorous public opposition). So, will the Constitutional Court actually hear the case?

[childs hood end]

Former Fianna Fáil TD Ned O'Keeffe has been arrested this morning by gardaí investigating alleged expenses fraud.

Mr O’Keeffe, who resigned his Cork East seat at the general election, was arrested at his home in Mitchelstown this morning by officers from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation.


http://news.ie.msn.com/ex-ff-td-questioned-by-fraud-squad

[bekrah]

I'm not sure if this has been posted already. I found it on the FreedomReigns forum. I'm not sure how reputable of a source it is or not, you guys would probably know better than me. However they do give some case numbers regarding this guys arrest toward the bottom of the article. ...quoted below


Herzog’s Berlin Court arrest is filed under Charge Case No. 83 Js 960/06. His arrested associates to date are Josef Birch, Case No. 83 Js 792 /05, address given as 34/36 King Edward Street, Darlaston, West Midlands, UK and Heinz Bosche, Case No. 47 Js 127/06.
http://tdarkcabal.blogspot.com/


Well ... two weeks ago, Dr. Michael Herzog was arrested in Germany following police raids on his home and the homes and offices of several of his criminal associates. As the circle widens, Dr. Herzog’s activities are creating major implications for all of the crooked political, banking and US Government parties that have assisted him. Herzog is now in deep, deep trouble and his associates will all follow in the same footsteps. How do we know this? We now know who they are from the reams of notes, transaction receipts, pay orders with instruction sets, and transcripts of Herzog and his associates illicit acts.Apparently he was detained for further questioning and implicated a number of people:



Bush, Ackermann, Dewhurst, Romney plus hundreds of people in the world financial markets, at the highest levels, in the agencies, past Presidents and elected leaders of numerous countries, our American Congressman and Senators are all named.

[Sabrina]

I'm not sure if this has been posted already. I found it on the FreedomReigns forum. I'm not sure how reputable of a source it is or not, you guys would probably know better than me. However they do give some case numbers regarding this guys arrest toward the bottom of the article. ...quoted below


Herzog’s Berlin Court arrest is filed under Charge Case No. 83 Js 960/06. His arrested associates to date are Josef Birch, Case No. 83 Js 792 /05, address given as 34/36 King Edward Street, Darlaston, West Midlands, UK and Heinz Bosche, Case No. 47 Js 127/06.
http://tdarkcabal.blogspot.com/


Well ... two weeks ago, Dr. Michael Herzog was arrested in Germany following police raids on his home and the homes and offices of several of his criminal associates. As the circle widens, Dr. Herzog’s activities are creating major implications for all of the crooked political, banking and US Government parties that have assisted him. Herzog is now in deep, deep trouble and his associates will all follow in the same footsteps. How do we know this? We now know who they are from the reams of notes, transaction receipts, pay orders with instruction sets, and transcripts of Herzog and his associates illicit acts.Apparently he was detained for further questioning and implicated a number of people:



Bush, Ackermann, Dewhurst, Romney plus hundreds of people in the world financial markets, at the highest levels, in the agencies, past Presidents and elected leaders of numerous countries, our American Congressman and Senators are all named.

Thanks Bekrah. Here's the story on the White Hats Report:
http://tdarkcabal.blogspot.co.uk/

Love it that comes up on the so called 'alternative' 'conspiracy' sites thru' google, but startling silent under main stream media.

April 27, 2012 - The White Hats Report #40
Dr. Michael Herzog Arrested By German Authorities – Has Great Voice, Sings Like A Pro.

THE PAST FOURTEEN DAYS

Please recall the winner-takes-all media confrontation between the White Hats Reports #35, #38 and #39 and a well known International Hedge Fund wherein Dr. Herzog tried to use a namesake as a front, hired some high priced legal muscle and used the well known fund to shield himself and his fraudulent activities for the beneficial interest of Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush.

Well ... two weeks ago, Dr. Michael Herzog was arrested in Germany following police raids on his home and the homes and offices of several of his criminal associates. As the circle widens, Dr. Herzog’s activities are creating major implications for all of the crooked political, banking and US Government parties that have assisted him. Herzog is now in deep, deep trouble and his associates will all follow in the same footsteps. How do we know this? We now know who they are from the reams of notes, transaction receipts, pay orders with instruction sets, and transcripts of Herzog and his associates illicit acts.

In addition, Dr. Herzog was detained for further questioning yesterday. The outcome? Dr. Herzog has a great voice and is singing like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Bush, Ackermann, Dewhurst, Romney plus hundreds of people in the world financial markets, at the highest levels, in the agencies, past Presidents and elected leaders of numerous countries, our American Congressman and Senators are all named. Yes, it has been a treasure trove of names, places and events, including orders for physical violence up to and including termination for those that did not cooperate in the methods of the Cabal. The Bird is out of the cage and the cats hate the harmonious singing.

As if all of the above wasn’t enough to swallow for one week, selective high level members of the House of Lords were informed last night that Josef Ackermann has been taken in for questioning on numerous issues instigated by Merkel, and that large scale operations are now planned with cross border cooperation, as the Cabal’s International Network gets publicly unraveled. Greenspan is now the subject of ever more allegations and inquiries. Tony Blair's Vatican accounts and his JP Morgan bagman role is now being assessed, as is his history of receiving Bush related funds. The net is now closing in on many of them.

Ackermann was sidestepped for a key Bilderberg role. Now serious criminal investigations will intensify the focus on both he and Deutsche Bank. The Berlin Federal Prosecutors Office is focused on the trail of crime linked to Herzog and the immense scale of US Political Racketeering and CIA collusion which is emerging.

Herzog’s Berlin Court arrest is filed under Charge Case No. 83 Js 960/06. His arrested associates to date are Josef Birch, Case No. 83 Js 792 /05, address given as 34/36 King Edward Street, Darlaston, West Midlands, UK and Heinz Bosche, Case No. 47 Js 127/06.

We have information and belief that Birch supplied a false address and believe this is a Joseph Birch from Cornwall. In fact, it is believed to be Sir Joseph Birch, a well known Bush crony and associate, which we are now tracking, to help German Police and have him deported back to Germany. If this is the Joseph Birch we believe it may be, he comes with a long history of fraud, litigation and Bush connections.

In other significant news, it has been learned that Sarkozy needs to assist in the release of the Global Settlements to save his Presidency. Merkel needs it to save the Euro and EU model. If the EU goes, Germany's industrial base will collapse.

We are continuing to unravel the web of criminal conspiracy of the international Cabal. Germany's arrest of Herzog and associates is a major first step as it will lead investigators to the central, prominent cabal members in Europe and America. We have named just the first few. We will continue naming names, especially of those in the US through a series of reports that will be released starting next week.



and some thoughts here:

http://removingtheshackles.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/wow-what-week.html

[Sabrina]

Some more info. mentioning Herzog from the past here:


http://upintelligence.multiply.com/reviews/item/2?&show_interstitial=1&u=%2Freviews%2Fitem


http://www.intfico.com/files/Image-Brochure.pdf

[Sabrina]

Looks like another leaving party will be scheduled soon - altho' of course he's no doubt another pawn and lower down minion blamed for colluding with the Murdoch empire.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/leveson-inquiry/9233405/David-Cameron-opens-way-for-inquiry-into-Jeremy-Hunt-over-BSkyB-bid.html
28 April UK

David Cameron opens way for inquiry into Jeremy Hunt over BSkyB bid

Downing Street has distanced itself for the first time from Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, as questions mount over his dealings with the Murdoch empire.


David Cameron's spokesman opened the way for a Whitehall inquiry into Mr Hunt's conduct today and said: "If there is anything that suggests there has been a breach of the code the Prime Minister would of course act."

The statement is the first acknowledgement from Mr Cameron that Mr Hunt's future is in doubt.
It appears to increase the likelihood of a formal inquiry into whether he breached the ministerial code while he was considering whether Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation would be allowed to take full control of BSkyB, the broadcaster. Ultimately an inquiry into his ministerial conduct could order his removal from office.

[Sabrina]

Mis-selling is rife - let's see them really have a go at.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/rate-swap-scandal/9234084/Vince-Cable-told-to-change-law-over-bank-mis-selling.html

28 April UK

Vince Cable told to change law over bank mis-selling

Pressure is growing on the Government to change the law so that small businesses that claim they have been mis-sold complex interest rate derivatives by Britain’s largest banks can take collective legal action.

Vince Cable has been accused by Labour of doing little to help victims, even though many have been driven to the point of bankruptcy as interest rates have fallen to historic lows.

The Financial Services Authority is now working on an in-depth review of the claims, which could potentially lead to a full investigation of how lenders, including Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland, sold interest-rate-hedging products to small and medium-sized businesses.

“The Government’s response so far simply hasn’t been good enough. Small businesses are on the brink and they have done nothing,” said Toby Perkins, shadow small business minister.

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph this weekend, Mr Perkins and Chris Leslie, shadow treasury minister, reveal they have written to Mr Cable and the Treasury minister, Mark Hoban, calling for an urgent amendment to the Financial Services Bill to improve the rights of small business to take action against the banks.

[Sabrina]

http://the2012scenario.com/2012/04/sheldan-nidles-timeline-scenario/#more-114233

Love him or hate him, here's Sheldan Nidle's timeline on the arrests. Use discernment obviously, but this is put here as a point of interest and the anti-channelers can take a Sunday nap (will they even find this hidden away - or will steam start to come out of their ears - again....... :) ).

[Sabrina]

OK who knows? But who does know......:) I'd personally avoid some of the negative confusion suggestions in some of this. Also fail to see why parts of alleged St Germain Trust goes directly to light workers (altho' many of us may be that). It's a seducing story for those wanting some money, but shouldn't abundance be shared worldwide? All sorts of info. is being ramped up at the moment....S.

http://2012portal.blogspot.ca/2012/04/normal-0-microsoftinternetexplorer4_28.html

Posted by Cobra at 4:27 AM

Saturday, April 28, 2012
New Financial System

Most of this intel comes from sources deep within occult economy and it pertains to the restructuring of the financial system worldwide.

Reset

This will happen at the time of the Event and is actually part of the operation.

Day 1

When the critical mass of pressure is exerted upon the Federal Reserve it will be forced to repay debt that it owes to people due to its fraudulent operations. Since Fed does not have money to repay that debt, it will go bankrupt. This will trigger a chain reaction of BIS, IMF, World Bank and all central banks worldwide going bankrupt also.

Extreme volatility in markets will result in a worldwide stock market crash. Stock exchanges will close, including NYSE. All financial instruments such as options and credit default swaps will be zeroed out.

All shadow accounts will be closed and zeroed out. All public bank accounts of the Cabal will be seized. All foreclosures will be frozen, as well as all public and private debt (mortgages, loans, credit card debt).

Day 2-7

Banks will be closed and there will be a lot of uncertainty and confusion. Some businesses will be temporarily closed. Some of those that remain open may accept cash, other will only accept gold or silver coins. Credit cards will not be accepted as the system will go down. There might be moderate problems with distribution chain, it is wise to stock up some food and gasoline.

Revaluation (RV)

After about 1 week from the Event

There might still be light problems in the distribution chain.

New financial system will be introduced. It will be backed up with Yama****a gold. That gold will be stored in locations that are not to be disclosed yet. Yama****a gold will not be traded in open markets. Basket of currencies such as US dollar, Euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Japanese yen and Chinese yuan will form the basis of this new system.



Those banks that did not have strong connections with Federal Reserve and did not go bankrupt will reopen. They will not be allowed to charge interest. All their accounting will be fully transparent to the public. Stock market will not reopen.

Revaluation will take place. It means that the exchange rates between various currencies will change, but not drastically They will reflect more truly the real productivity of nations. Iraqi Dinar will not gain much value, contrary to speculations of many people. Federal Reserve notes, Euro banknotes and other banknotes will be widely accepted, until they are phased out in a few months and new money is printed.

All fair business agreements, contracts and responsibilities worldwide will be kept valid and will be respected. Those business agreements that involve criminal or fraudulent interactions with the Cabal will be cancelled, null and void.

In a few weeks

Multinationals will be obliged to buy back their shares and this will effectively force them to go bankrupt. They will be split and healthy portions of those companies will be nationalized in their own countries.

The existence of Global Settlement funds will be then introduced to the public. Those funds include about $ 70 trillion from old money patriots connected to the Positive Military, $ 100 trillion from White Dragon Society and Templar groups, $ 120 trillion from Resistance Movement and $ 10 trillion from Saint Germain Trust. Global Settlement funds will also include all money and assets from the Cabal.

Global Settlement funds will be used for many purposes. First, all national, public and private debt will be paid off worldwide. After that, all people will receive restitution for all theft and criminal activity against them by the former Cabal. Then prosperity funds will be released and humanitarian, environmental and new advanced technology projects funded. Part of the money from Saint Germain Trust will go directly to Lightworkers, the rest of it will fund projects connected to the introduction of the First Contact.

[Sabrina]

This has an update. Osborne is UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer. And this is tomorrow!!


https://www.facebook.com/events/283107395109665/

PEACEFUL & LAWFUL CITIZENS' ARREST OF GEORGE OSBORNE - 30TH APRIL 2012
Public Event · By David Searle

On 20th April 2012 George Osborne announced he has committed a further £10 billion of contingent loans to the IMF, the organisation representing the interests of commercial banks and privately-owned central banks worldwide. It is believed that the loans will be used in support of the Euro currency.

Mr. Osborne's claim that this sum "does not add to our deficit or national debt" is disingenuous. As with every bank bailout the collateral is the British people themselves, and unlike the banks, we the people do not at the moment have control of the money supply, i.e. the ability to create money at will.

This means that it will have to come from taxes, services cuts and public assets - once again negatively affecting the quality of our daily lives.

In an actual sense, Mr. Osborne has agreed to the transfer of assets from the British people to the commercial banks and privately-owned central banks.

Under UK law, this constitutes theft:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/60/section/1 [Theft Act 1968, Section 1]

Furthermore, the statement that it does not add to our debt, coupled with Mr. Osborne's previous statement to Parliament on 27th October 2011 that "Britain will not be putting money into the bailout fund either directly or through the IMF", mean that it is also fraud:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/section/2 [Fraud Act 2006, Section 2]

We, the people of this country, now face a straightforward, threefold choice:

1. Allow the continued flouting of our laws by the same men and women that were elected to represent us.

2. Petition the police service and courts to address the flouting of these laws as effectively as they can.

3. Take peaceful and lawful action to arrest George Osborne ourselves, according to the duties and guidance of the law (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/60/section/24A [Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, Section 24A]) and the principles and example of the British Constitution.

I am hereby calling for us to choose the third option. Join me at 10.00am on 30th April 2012 outside Downing Street. Over the coming days I will be speaking to the Metropolitan Police to explain that the arrest will be lawful and peaceful, and to co-ordinate with them in order to ensure that the action proceeds in a proper and legitimate manner.

Please do not join the arrest unless you are mentally and physically prepared to conduct yourself in a presentable, calm, peaceful and lawful manner throughout the entire duration of the event otherwise there is a risk that it will be unsuccessful.

We will participate equally in this arrest, standing together as sovereign British citizens, and I believe that the more of us taking part, the more likely we are to succeed.

David Searle
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UPDATE 24/04/2012: On St. George's Day yesterday evening I walked into Charing Cross police station (the nearest police station to 11 Downing Street) and outlined the allegations against George Osborne. The PC on duty logged it as a fraud case and gave me a crime reference number. He also took a copy of the following document which will be added to the crime file:

http://pdfcast.org/pdf/osborne-police-scan

I pointed out the schedule mentioned in the end paragraphs. The authorities now have five days (i.e. until the end of Saturday 28th April) to contact me. In my statement it is explained that were I not to hear from them: "I will take this as reasonable grounds for assuming that for whatever reason [they are unable] - either by arresting Mr. Osborne or by any other method - to proceed with the investigation at the present time."

Legally this should overcome the obstacle of Article (3), Section 24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which declares: "the power of summary arrest conferred by subsection (1) or (2) is exercisable only if— … (b) it appears to the person [or in our case people] making the arrest that it is not reasonably practicable for a constable to make it instead", and a citizens' arrest would then be rendered legitimate. I would welcome further advice from legal experts, however. Thanks to Gary G-star Crowley for drawing attention to this issue.

Next step: liaising with Downing Street police to ensure that the event can go ahead peacefully and without disturbance.
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UPDATE 26/04/2012: Form 3175A was handed in to Charing Cross Police Station yesterday 25/04/2012 with the following "Reason for event" statement attached - everyone attending on 30th April should give it a read:

http://pdfcast.org/pdf/form-3175a-reason-for-event-scan

After leaving the station I emailed George Osborne inviting him either to turn himself in to the authorities over the next few days or voluntarily meet us at 10:00 a.m. on 30/04/2012 outside Downing Street. The text of this email is here:

http://pdfcast.org/pdf/osborne-email-25-04-2012

I am currently preparing the arrest warrant to be delivered to 11 Downing Street should Mr. Osborne choose neither to turn himself in nor meet us at the arranged time and place. Please feel free to message me with technical suggestions or contributions, particularly if you are a constitutional or legal specialist.

[Sabrina]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-27/largest-u-s-banks-resist-federal-reserve-s-credit-limits.html

Largest U.S. Banks Resist Federal Reserve’s Credit Limits
By Cheyenne Hopkins - Apr 27, 2012

The largest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), told the Federal Reserve that a limit on their credit exposure is unnecessary and “fundamentally flawed.”
The Fed’s proposed rules on single-counterparty credit limits would have a negative impact on banks, their customers and the U.S. economy, according to a letter sent to the central bank today by five banking trade groups, including the Clearing House Association.


In December, the Fed proposed tougher standards to supervise the largest banks whose collapse could jeopardize the economy. The central bank set a limit of 10 percent for credit risk between a company considered systemically important and counterparty when each has more than $500 billion in total assets.
“The Federal Reserve has provided no basis to determine that imposing the dramatically lower and arbitrary 10 percent credit limit on certain major covered companies would even help mitigate risks to the U.S. financial stability, much less be necessary,” according to the text of the letter obtained by Bloomberg News.
Other signers of the letter are the Financial Services Roundtable, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the Financial Services Forum and American Bankers Association. The Clearing House also represents Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) in addition to JPMorgan.

Fed Proposals
The Fed’s proposed rules would set triggers for regulatory enforcement for systemic firms and require boards of directors to oversee and approve plans for limiting liquidity risk. Comments on the Fed’s proposal are due on April 30.

The 10 percent credit risk limit is more restrictive than that contained in the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law, which allowed for a 25 percent limit.

The banks are focusing their complaints on the proposal on the single-counterparty exposure limit. They argue it goes too far without justification from the Fed for its change. Further, they disagree with the central bank on its proposed formula for determining counterparty exposure.

The banks are attempting to bring heightened attention to the issue, in a fashion similar to the resistance to the Volcker rule’s ban on proprietary trading, and are beginning a push to get lawmakers’ input. Executives of the eight largest banks met with Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo on March 27, according to a Fed disclosure.
Important Implications

“This hasn’t gotten the attention of Volcker but its implications have been just as important,” said Satish Kini, co-chairman of the Debevoise & Plimpton LLP’s Banking Group.

Banks were subject to single counterparty limits prior to the financial crisis at the bank level not the holding company level. This proposal extends the authority to the holding company of institutions. The Fed has said this change is to address the links between firms considered systemically important.

“The financial crisis also revealed inadequacies in the U.S. supervision approach to single counterparty credit concentration limits, which failed to limit the interconnectedness among and concentration of similar risks within large financial companies that contributed to a rapid escalation of the crisis,” the Fed said in its December proposal.

The Fed did not explain why it changed the credit risk limit to 10 percent for the largest banks. The Dodd-Frank act allows the Fed to make the change if it determines it is necessary to “mitigate risks to the financial stability.” The banks argue the Fed should first try the 25 percent limit and, if it proves inadequate, adopt the 10 percent limit.

“Going beyond the 25 percent limit based on an array of untested, an unknown factors is over engineering,” said Karen Shaw Petrou, a managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics, a Washington research firm whose clients have included Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) “Throughout the rule there are really important improvements that ought to be put in place, kick tested and then expand it.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Cheyenne Hopkins at Chopkins19@bloomberg.net

[Sabrina]

http://occupywallst.org/article/may-day/

While American corporate media has focused on yet another stale election between Wall Street-financed candidates, Occupy has been organizing something extraordinary: the first truly nationwide General Strike in U.S. history. Building on the international celebration of May Day, past General Strikes in U.S. cities like Seattle and Oakland, the recent May 1st Day Without An Immigrant demonstrations, the national general strikes in Spain this year, and the on-going student strike in Quebec, the Occupy Movement has called for A Day Without the 99% on May 1st, 2012. This in and of itself is a tremendous victory. For the first time, workers, students, immigrants, and the unemployed from over 125 U.S. cities will stand together for economic justice.

list at link

[Sabrina]

More on those naughty secret agents being fed to the Washington Post for some? reason.


http://rt.com/news/secret-service-moscow-club-135/
27 April
US secret agents, White House staff in Moscow club known for sex, drugs and cop raids

More salacious news about the US Secret Service! Reports are emerging that White House staff visited Moscow's most notorious night-club, where sex acts and drug use were the norm, during a 2000 prep-trip ahead of a visit by Bill Clinton.

Secret service and White House advance staff went to the now closed Hungry Duck club on the eve of a June 2000 state visit by then President Bill Clinton, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Pictures of the government workers showed up on the club’s website, two anonymous sources told the publication. It is unknown if any internal investigation into the incident ever took place.

Neither the Secret Service nor a spokesman for former President Clinton would comment on the matter.
Notorious for being denounced by the Russian parliament over 30 times, the Hungry Duck epitomized hedonistic debauchery in post-Soviet Russia. With countless brawls, police raids, and publically performed sex acts, it would seem an unlikely destination for US civil servants.

News of the visit follows allegations that 12 Secret Service officers and 12 military personnel cavorted with prostitutes in the Colombian city of Cartagena ahead of President Obama’s visit for the Summit of Americas.
Another dozen agents reportedly got loaded at a San Salvador strip club and paid for sexual services in the run-up to a 2011 presidential visit to El Salvador.

However, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday an investigation following the Colombian scandal suggested that the carousing was an “aberration”.

Napolitano further said that in the last 2 and a half years, over 900 foreign and 13,000 domestic security trips covered by the Secret Service had gone without complaint.

[KiwiElf]

We're getting some major "markers" of "change" coming out on MSM here now: Time 21:04 Local
Questioning hidden bank accounts of Bush & Obama, How much profit the Fed have been getting - whoaaa - it's coming out fast!

[Sabrina]

http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/04/taking-monsanto-to-the-peoples-court/


Taking Monsanto to the people’s court
US
by Blair Braverman | April 24, 2012,



"Testimony of Zea Maize," via the Midwest Radical Culture Corridor.
On April 21, approximately 100 people came to a courtroom in Iowa City to attend a mock trial called the Monsanto Hearings, the second of five such events scheduled nationwide. The trial was modeled after a preliminary hearing, an attempt to collect stories about harm caused by agribusiness giant Monsanto and determine if further public scrutiny is warranted.

The court’s five presiding judges — including a professor, a graduate student and an organic farmer — made no pretense of impartiality. “We are under no obligation to be even-handed,” they announced early on, “because in the court of public opinion, Monsanto is not even-handed. They have money for lobbyists, advertisements, corporate-funded research and media campaigns. The influence of this hearing, by contrast, depends on the power and truth of what is said.” The court, they explained, would not be considering legal violations, but rather violations of nature, ethics and human rights.

Untraditional as it might be, the hearing had an air of formality — the judges looked smart in their black robes, and witnesses swore to the truth before testifying, some in person and some over video. The first witness was a Vietnam veteran, trembling in a Hawaiian shirt, suffering from Hepatitis C linked to exposure to Monsanto’s Agent Orange (of which an active ingredient, 2,4-D, is a common lawn pesticide today); then a small farmer whose neighbor lost acres of organic crops due to pesticides drifting on morning fog; later, a garden and soil educator who brought a wooden box of soil and worms to the witness stand.

Other witnesses included professors, farmers, scientists and local activists. Their testimonies ranged from personal to technical, from stories of the approximately 200,000 Indian farmers who, indebted after Monsanto’s cotton seed prices rose from 7 rupees to 17,000 rupees/kg, committed suicide by drinking pesticide, to explanations of the influence of corporate agribusiness on U.S. land-grant universities and how minute manipulations of chemical structure have allowed Monsanto to sidestep health regulations. One man came dressed as a “superweed” — a plant that developed pesticide resistance after exposure to the chemical glyphosate — and lounged with his feet on the edge of the witness box. “I don’t give a **** about Monsanto,” he said, swigging from a bottle marked “Roundup,” “though they do make a good drink.”

One common theme throughout the testimonies was the importance of adhering to the precautionary principle, which dictates that if an action (or, say, a pesticide or a genetically modified crop) has the potential to cause significant harm, it should not be implemented until it has been proven safe. The European Union mandates use of the precautionary principle when regulating chemicals and biotechnology, but the United States doesn’t, instead placing the burden on consumers to prove harm once the damage has already been done.

Which is, in a way, what the activists behind the Monsanto Hearings are trying to do. By using the courtroom as a public theater, they aim to spread knowledge and conversation within a region — the Midwest — that is heavily dependent on large-scale agriculture. I talked to the event’s main organizer, Sarah Kanouse, a member of the artist and activist group Compass. She cited a groundswell in public resistance to Monsanto’s products as an impetus for the hearing. “We wanted to see what an amateur legal proceeding would look like,” she explained.

The Monsanto Hearings are based on a robust international tradition of peoples’ tribunals that dates back 40 years to the Russell Tribunal, which examined human rights violations by the U.S. military in Vietnam. Because peoples’ tribunals are not legally binding, their main goal is to bring visibility to offenses that might otherwise go unseen or unrecorded, and to victims for whom legal protection has fallen short. By specifically adopting the mantle of a legal proceeding, a peoples’ tribunal can call attention to the insufficiency of the law when it comes to fostering social and environmental justice.

A similar Monsanto Hearing was held recently in Carbondale, Illinois, and more are planned for Chicago, Santa Cruz and St. Louis, near Monsanto’s headquarters. Footage from the Iowa City hearing will be shown this summer at dOCUMENTA13, an art festival in Germany, as a preliminary documentary, and a more polished documentary is also in the works.

[Sabrina]

http://www.compliancy-services.co.uk/news/article/1828/fsa-fines-ian-hannam-chairman-of-capital-markets-at-j-p-morgan-cazenove-for-market-abuse

UK


FSA fines Ian Hannam Chairman of Capital Markets at J P Morgan Cazenove for market abuse

25 April 2012
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published a Decision Notice for Ian Hannam, the Chairman of Capital Markets at J P Morgan Cazenove.

The Decision Notice indicates that the FSA has decided to fine Ian Hannam £450,000 for market abuse.

Mr Hannam has referred the matter to the Upper Tribunal (the Tribunal) where he and the FSA will each present their case. The Tribunal will then determine the appropriate action for the FSA to take. The Tribunal may uphold, vary or cancel the FSA’s decision. The Tribunal’s decision will be made public on its website.

In the Decision Notice dated 27 February 2012, the FSA set out its decision to fine Mr Hannam for two instances of market abuse (improper disclosure). In the FSA’s opinion, Mr Hannam disclosed inside information in two emails sent in September and October 2008 to a prospective client. The emails contained inside information relating to Heritage Oil Plc (Heritage), an existing J P Morgan client for which Mr Hannam was the lead adviser.

The September email contained information about a potential offer for Heritage and the October email contained information about a new oil find by Heritage.

The Decision Notice states that the FSA accepts that Mr Hannam did not set out to commit market abuse but considers that Mr Hannam’s failings were serious in view of his experience and senior position within J P Morgan.

The FSA believes that the size of the proposed fine reflects the serious nature of the market abuse and should act as a deterrent to other market participants.


and

One arrested as FSA continues to clamp down on unauthorised business

25 April 2012 at 10:43
With the assistance of the City of London Police, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) executed a search warrant at one address in East London in connection with an investigation into a suspected unauthorised foreign exchange trading scheme.

A 23 year old man was arrested on suspicion of committing offences under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and the Fraud Act 2006.

[Sabrina]

More on shareholders revolts - and this is reported by Reuters folks...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/27/uk-barclays-creditsuisse-agm-idUKBRE83Q0B020120427

Credit Suisse and Barclays investors revolt over pay


(Reuters) - More than a quarter of shareholders at Credit Suisse and Barclays voted down the banks' pay plans on Friday, in a sign of investors catching up with popular outrage over bankers' pay.

Such stark rejections are rare, with the average vote against pay proposals at British companies last year only 6 percent. This year's shareholder meetings to approve the plans were stormy, with investors venting their fury at bosses they see gaining at their expense.

The full force of investor discontent was felt by both banks, with Credit Suisse saying 31.6 percent of investors who voted opposed the Swiss bank's remuneration plan, although this still allowed the non-binding vote to pass.

In London, Britain's Barclays said 26.9 percent of its investors opposed its plan. Including abstentions, the number who chose not to back the resolution was 31.5 percent.

Anger is rife in the population at large, with public concern that an industry whose excesses sparked the global downturn is still awarding multi-million dollar pay outs.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves for taking so much money away from us. We are the owners of this bank, and you are our employees. We should be the ones who decide what you earn," said Rudolf Weber at the Credit Suisse meeting, to applause from other shareholders.

"People feel that bankers and the banking sector have lost touch with what's real," said Jim Arnott, 56, an executive coach in London who counts bankers among his clients.

"The majority of people feel it's just a culture of greed."


After the vote, Credit Suisse chairman Urs Rohner said he viewed it as a signal to work on compensation methods.

"SORRY..."

Barclays chairman Marcus Agius apologised for badly communicating the bank's pay strategy and promised to "materially" increase the dividend shareholders receive, helping to lift the bank's shares more than 4 percent.

But he was heckled during his speech to a packed hall of about 2,000 shareholders and his comments about pay were greeted with laughter in some quarters.

"We should have engaged with shareholders earlier, as we are going to do for this year," Agius said after the meeting, adding that big investors are now putting more scrutiny on pay awards.

"This year the institutions are very keen to be seen to be exercising stewardship more closely than they have in the past," he said.

Politicians and shareholder advisory groups urged investors to send a clear message to banks on the need for pay restraint.

"Today's outcome clearly shows the investor concern with the company's remuneration policy," said Robert Talbut, chairman of the Association of British Insurers, whose members account for about a fifth of the UK stock market.

"All banks face a challenge to improve their investment case by getting a better balance of returns to shareholders, payments to employees and capital retention," Talbut said.

Barclays paid out 660 million pounds ($1.1 billion) in dividends last year, while its bonus pot for investment bank staff was 1.5 billion pounds, and across the bank it paid 2.5 billion in "performance costs."

Decent results from both Barclays and Credit Suisse this week may have taken the sting out of some investors' anger, though many of the votes were made early in the week.

Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond took home 17 million pounds last year, despite describing profitability as "unacceptable". The bank last week tweaked his award after investors voiced their anger in meetings with Agius, although many critics said it had not done enough.

Shareholder John Farmer accused Diamond of presiding over a "long term catalogue of underperformance".

Credit Suisse's chief executive Brady Dougan was not Credit Suisse's top earner for 2011. That honour went to Robert Shafir, who earned 8.5 million francs for running the asset management arm which posted a 10 percent rise in pre-tax profit.

The Swiss bank, which is cutting 3,500 jobs, said it has not paid top executives any cash awards for the past four years, opting for stock-based schemes linked to the bank's share price.

Ethos, an influential activist shareholder that told its Swiss pension fund clients to reject Credit Suisse's pay practices, said the vote was an even stronger signal to the bank's board than last year, when opposition stood at 23 percent.

Shareholders are unlikely to welcome even more complicated bonus pay at Credit Suisse. Before the vote, they proved more angered than appeased by a 30-minute lecture on the bank's pay practices by Aziz Syriani, who heads its compensation committee.

Credit Suisse has been an early adopter of newer ways of paying its bankers, such as offloading unwanted assets into bonus pools.

At 1520 GMT, Credit Suisse shares were up 0.45 percent at 22.21 francs, underperforming Europe's bank index.

The anger in Europe mirrors protests in the United States, where shareholders in Citigroup surprisingly voted down its executive pay plan last week, while protesters at Wells Fargo's AGM turned up with a huge inflated rat, pockets stuffed with dollar bills.

[Cjay]

More on those naughty secret agents being fed to the Washington Post for some? reason.


http://rt.com/news/secret-service-moscow-club-135/
27 April
US secret agents, White House staff in Moscow club known for sex, drugs and cop raids

More salacious news about the US Secret Service! Reports are emerging that White House staff visited Moscow's most notorious night-club, where sex acts and drug use were the norm, during a 2000 prep-trip ahead of a visit by Bill Clinton.

Secret service and White House advance staff went to the now closed Hungry Duck club on the eve of a June 2000 state visit by then President Bill Clinton, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Pictures of the government workers showed up on the club’s website, two anonymous sources told the publication. It is unknown if any internal investigation into the incident ever took place.

Neither the Secret Service nor a spokesman for former President Clinton would comment on the matter.
Notorious for being denounced by the Russian parliament over 30 times, the Hungry Duck epitomized hedonistic debauchery in post-Soviet Russia. With countless brawls, police raids, and publically performed sex acts, it would seem an unlikely destination for US civil servants.

News of the visit follows allegations that 12 Secret Service officers and 12 military personnel cavorted with prostitutes in the Colombian city of Cartagena ahead of President Obama’s visit for the Summit of Americas.
Another dozen agents reportedly got loaded at a San Salvador strip club and paid for sexual services in the run-up to a 2011 presidential visit to El Salvador.

However, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday an investigation following the Colombian scandal suggested that the carousing was an “aberration”.

Napolitano further said that in the last 2 and a half years, over 900 foreign and 13,000 domestic security trips covered by the Secret Service had gone without complaint.

If a tree falls in a forest and no one reports seeing it, does that mean the tree did not fall?

OR

If someone says a tree fell in the forest, did it actually fall or are they just saying it fell? Can they show me the fallen tree? If not, what is their reason for saying the tree fell?

[Sabrina]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/29/uk-murdoch-politics-idUKBRE83S02D20120429

Murdochs face tough week over scandal


LONDON | Sun Apr 29, 2012

(Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's tetchy and uncompromising appearance at a British inquiry into phone hacking could come back to haunt him this week when politicians give their verdict on the scandal at his defunct News of the World newspaper.

Three days of grilling at the Leveson judicial press inquiry last week extracted few new facts from Rupert and his son James as the 81-year-old casually threw out insults at politicians and described himself as a victim of a corporate cover-up.

That appearance will only increase pressure on a powerful parliamentary committee to be harsh in its verdict on the scandal, putting Murdoch's News Corp further on the defensive.

"The timing of the select committee report, following the week we've just had at Leveson, is crucial," a person familiar with the thinking and mechanics of the committee, told Reuters.

"Anyone putting their name to an amendment that supports Rupert and James, or dilutes the criticism of Rupert and James, would look very different now than they would have done a week ago."

Another person familiar with the situation said the report had become much more critical in recent months.

The committee will meet on Monday to vote and agree the final wording for the report, which had originally been expected late last year. It will be published on Tuesday.

Murdoch shut the 168-year-old News of the World in July after journalists and investigators admitted hacking the phones of ordinary people, crime victims and politicians to gather exclusive and salacious news.

INFLUENCE

The evidence from the Leveson inquiry could particularly increase the pressure on members of the committee from Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party, traditionally seen as close to the world's most powerful media tycoon.

The release of emails between James Murdoch and his top London lobbyist suggesting possible influence over the government led to the resignation of a senior ministerial aide and demands for the minister himself to quit.

The committee is expected to criticise James Murdoch for his handling of News Corp's British newspaper arm and is considering whether to implicate Rupert Murdoch for his influence over the wider company culture.

A tough report could make it harder for 39-year-old James Murdoch in his role as News Corp's deputy chief operating officer after the damage the company has already taken to its value and reputation.

Committee members believe Murdoch staff have shown little respect for the parliamentary system and accused them at one point of suffering from "collective amnesia".

Since the committee has to be careful of criticising any of the people arrested over phone- and computer-hacking and bribery to avoid prejudicing court cases, the criticism of the Murdochs may be even more pointed. They have not been arrested.

Rupert Murdoch told the Leveson inquiry on Thursday that staff within the News of the World had hidden the hacking scandal from himself, James and ex-News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, a protegee of his.

He put the blame on the journalists and the paper's former top lawyer and said he wished he had shut the paper sooner. He brushed off any suggestion that he could be held responsible for a culture that allowed criminality to flourish.

"I think Rupert showed his true lights... belligerent, testy, laying the blame everywhere but himself and passing the buck," Roy Greenslade, who worked under Murdoch at the Sun and Sunday Times, told Reuters.
:)

[Sabrina]

More on those naughty secret agents being fed to the Washington Post for some? reason.


http://rt.com/news/secret-service-moscow-club-135/
27 April
US secret agents, White House staff in Moscow club known for sex, drugs and cop raids

More salacious news about the US Secret Service! Reports are emerging that White House staff visited Moscow's most notorious night-club, where sex acts and drug use were the norm, during a 2000 prep-trip ahead of a visit by Bill Clinton.

Secret service and White House advance staff went to the now closed Hungry Duck club on the eve of a June 2000 state visit by then President Bill Clinton, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Pictures of the government workers showed up on the club’s website, two anonymous sources told the publication. It is unknown if any internal investigation into the incident ever took place.

Neither the Secret Service nor a spokesman for former President Clinton would comment on the matter.
Notorious for being denounced by the Russian parliament over 30 times, the Hungry Duck epitomized hedonistic debauchery in post-Soviet Russia. With countless brawls, police raids, and publically performed sex acts, it would seem an unlikely destination for US civil servants.

News of the visit follows allegations that 12 Secret Service officers and 12 military personnel cavorted with prostitutes in the Colombian city of Cartagena ahead of President Obama’s visit for the Summit of Americas.
Another dozen agents reportedly got loaded at a San Salvador strip club and paid for sexual services in the run-up to a 2011 presidential visit to El Salvador.

However, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday an investigation following the Colombian scandal suggested that the carousing was an “aberration”.

Napolitano further said that in the last 2 and a half years, over 900 foreign and 13,000 domestic security trips covered by the Secret Service had gone without complaint.

If a tree falls in a forest and no one reports seeing it, does that mean the tree did not fall?

OR

If someone says a tree fell in the forest, did it actually fall or are they just saying it fell? Can they show me the fallen tree? If not, what is their reason for saying the tree fell?




Yes it's more to do with why these stories are being fed, and why these people are being removed - and what mega power struggles a going on behind the scenes perhaps? Or stuff that has gone on for years with nobody raising an eyebrow, and now the tide is shifting and all that stuff is being detoxed...

[Sabrina]

http://www.modernghana.com/news/392018/1/manager-of-gold-consult-arrested-for-fraud.html

29 April Ghana


Manager Of Gold Consult Arrested For Fraud


The manager of Gold Consult Micro-Finance Limited, Ebenezer Inkum, has been arrested for allegedly defrauding some clients of the company to the tune of more than GH¢20,000.

Inkum claims to have engaged 13 staff members who went round the markets in Accra to convince traders to save with his company for loans in returns.

Although he claimed to have giving out loans to some of the clients, Inkoom could, however, not refund the savings of other traders to them.

He was arrested after eight of the clients reported his conduct to the Adabraka police.

The Crime Officer of the Adabraka Police Station, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr Ebenezer Nketiah told the Daily Graphic today that when the police requested for the suspect’s company bank statement, there was nothing in the account.

He said investigations have so far revealed that the suspect often told his clients that after saving with the company for between two to three months, they (clients) would be entitled to loans based on their savings.

Mr Nketiah said some of the clients have saved from between GH¢100 to GH¢3,000.

According to him, investigations have also revealed that the company, although registered at the Registrar-General’s Department, was not licenced by the Bank of Ghana to engage in micro-finance activities.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/bill-black-our-system-so-flawed-fraud-mathematically-guaranteed

Bill Black: Our System Is So Flawed That Fraud Is Mathematically Guaranteed

Bill Black: Our System Is So Flawed That Fraud Is Mathematically Guaranteed

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."
- Frederic Bastiat


Black is a former bank regulator who played a central role in prosecuting the corruption responsible for the S&L crisis of the late 1980s. He is one of America's top experts on financial fraud. And he laments that the US has descended into a type of crony capitalism that makes continued fraud a virtual certainty - while increasingly neutering the safeguards intended to prevent and punish such abuse.

In this extensive interview, Bill explains why financial fraud is the most damaging type of fraud and also the hardest to prosecute. He also details how, through crony capitalism, it has become much more prevalent in our markets and political system.

A warning: there's much revealed in this interview to make your blood boil. For example: the Office of Thrift Supervision. In the aftermath of the S&L crisis, this office brought 3,000 administration enforcements actions (a.k.a. lawsuits) against identified perpetrators. In a number of cases, they clawed back the funds and profits that the convicted parties had fraudulently obtained.

Flash forward to the 2008 credit crisis, in which just the related household sector losses alone were over 70x greater than those seen during the entire S&L debacle. So how many criminal referrals did the same agency, the Office of Threat Supervision, make?

Zero.

Similar dismal action was taken by such other financial regulators as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal reserve and the FDIC.

Where is the accountability?, you may be asking. Or perhaps, how did we allow things to get this bad?

To find out, click the play button below to listen to Part I of Chris' interview with Bill Black.

full story at link

[Sabrina]

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/04/loan-scheme-if-proved-one-biggest-frauds-state

Virginia, USA 28 April

Loan scheme, if proved, one of biggest frauds in state

An alleged loan scheme that prosecutors say contributed to last year's failure of Bank of the Commonwealth could, if proven, be the biggest fraud involving bank insiders on record in Virginia, banking experts say.

"To have this kind of thing happen is rare, indeed," said Larry Pettit, a retired banking professor at the University of Virginia. "You have to wonder how it could have happened. The regulatory bodies are pretty consistent on checking in on what's going on in the bank. In other words: How did the bank hide what they were doing?"

Prosecutors last week said Norfolk developers Eric Menden and his partner, George Hranowskyj, conspired in a $49 million fraud involving insider real estate deals and -bogus applications for historic tax credits. They said former bank officials, whom they did not name and who haven't been charged, had parts in $41 million of the alleged fraud.

Menden pleaded guilty in the case last week and is free awaiting sentencing. Hranowskyj is in jail pending trial.

Regulators shut down Bank of the Commonwealth in September, and it was taken over by Southern Bank and Trust Co. of Mount Olive, N.C.

At the time, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. estimated Bank of the Commonwealth's losses to be nearly $270 million.

full story at link

[Sabrina]

Spanish economy in major crisis: Minister Saturday, 28 April 2012 04:52

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/business-news/192251-spanish-economy-in-major-crisis-minister.html

MADRID: Spain’s sickly economy faces a “crisis of huge proportions”, a minister said yesterday, as unemployment hit its highest level in almost two decades and Standard and Poor’s downgraded the government’s debt by two notches.

Unemployment shot up to 24 percent in the first quarter, one of the worst jobless figures in the developed world. Retail sales slumped for the twenty-first consecutive month as a recession cuts into consumer spending.

“The figures are terrible for everyone and terrible for the government ... Spain is in a crisis of huge proportions,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said in a radio interview.

Standard and Poor’s cited risks of an increase in bad loans at Spanish banks and called on Europe to take action to encourage growth.

The downgrade spooked financial markets, raising the interest rate fellow euro zone struggler Italy was forced to pay to sell 10-year bonds at auction. The yield was its highest since January as investors worried about the economic outlook in the bloc’s indebted states.

Analysts said the ¤5.95bn Italian auction went well under the circumstances, but Rabobank strategist Richard McGuire said the 5.84 percent 10-year yield “leaves a question mark over how long Italy will be able to finance itself at levels that can be deemed sustainable”.

Italy’s main banking association said the economy may contract by 1.4 percent this year, more than the government’s 1.2 percent forecast.

and
http://www.ukcolumn.org/article/cost-insuring-spanish-debt-skyrockets
Cost Of Insuring Spanish Debt Skyrockets

The Euro crisis continues to build as the European debt bubble becomes ever more fragile. While most of the media focus has been on Greece, Spain has been building its status as the next big collapse.


¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.ukcolumn.org/article/euimf-blackmail
18 april
EU/IMF Blackmail

Last Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has attacked the European Union and the IMF for imposing political conditions on an EU-IMF loan desperately needed

Last Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has attacked the European Union and the IMF for imposing political conditions on an EU-IMF loan desperately needed.

Hungary asked for a 15-20 billion loan last November, but before they knew what was happening, they were warned that any money would depend on proving their commitment to democratic principles.

Viktor Orban's government has come in for criticism from the banking and political establishment since it enacted a series of laws and a new constitution which, the establishment says, curbs the Hungarian Central Bank's so-called independence. In other words, Hungary's leadership has quite sensibly put legislation in place which curtails the financial establishment's ability to asset strip the nation.

As the pressure has built on Orban to amend this legislation, he has become more outspoken. In an interview last Friday he said:

Creating political conditions -- for example over the justice system -- would amount to blackmail, which is unacceptable within the European Union

European nations are now expected to swallow the kinds of terms that African nations have had to deal with in the past, it seems.

[Sabrina]

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/sarkozy-tells-strauss-kahn-to-take-complaint-to-court/114737/

Sarkozy Tells Strauss-Kahn to Take Complaint to Court

29 Apr 2012



REUTERS

French President Nicolas Sarkozy challenged former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Saturday to take legal action over his allegation that "political enemies" scuppered his presidential bid last year by ensuring his sexual encounter with a New York maid was made public.

Strauss-Kahn, who was the runaway favourite for the Socialist party's presidential nomination before his arrest last May on sexual abuse charges, told London's Guardian newspaper he was convinced his political downfall was choreographed by his political enemies, reports Reuters.

[foreverfan]

If a tree falls in a forest and no one reports seeing it, does that mean the tree did not fall?

OR

If someone says a tree fell in the forest, did it actually fall or are they just saying it fell? Can they show me the fallen tree? If not, what is their reason for saying the tree fell?

Hey... You're messing with my mind. I haven't had my coffee yet. Stop that.

[Sabrina]

http://news.egypt.com/english/permalink/108573.html


Egypt

Parliament goes on strike until Cabinet resigns


Parliamentary speaker Saad El-Katatni on Sunday announced the suspension of all scheduled sessions of the People's Assembly – the lower house of Egypt's parliament – until 6 May to protest the continuance of the government of Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri against the wishes of the parliamentary majority.

In Sunday's session, El-Katatni stated that there was "nothing personal" between the People's Assembly and the government, stressing that the former was simply "doing its job" by monitoring the latter's performance – which it found to be "unsatisfactory."

He added, however, that assembly members were aware from the start of their "constitutional limitations," noting that they had refrained from taking steps towards withdrawing confidence from El-Ganzouri's government.

El-Katatni went on to stress that Egypt's current parliamentary assembly was the first to be freely chosen by the Egyptian popular will. "As assembly head, it's my responsibility to maintain the assembly's dignity," he declared, going on to accuse the government of "fabricating crises to hinder the assembly's performance."
full story at link

[Sabrina]

This is my arrest anthem... I'd usually avoid Letterman - but perhaps it's apt when it all goes down.

JrYnggjTJfk

[Sabrina]

If a tree falls in a forest and no one reports seeing it, does that mean the tree did not fall?

OR

If someone says a tree fell in the forest, did it actually fall or are they just saying it fell? Can they show me the fallen tree? If not, what is their reason for saying the tree fell?

Hey... You're messing with my mind. I haven't had my coffee yet. Stop that.

Hey Foreverfan, I'm having my hot chocolate and going to bed....and Drake took the tree and hid it behind David Wilcock's house without telling Benjy Fulford's Dragons.... oh must be dreaming.

[Sabrina]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17898029
1 May UK

Rupert Murdoch 'not a fit person' to lead News Corp - MPs


The MPs were "misled repeatedly", says chairman John WhittingdaleContinue reading the main story
Phone-hacking scandal



The culture committee questioned journalists and bosses at the now-closed News of the World, as well as police and lawyers for hacking victims.

Its report has concluded that Mr Murdoch exhibited "wilful blindness" to what was going on in News Corporation.

But the committee was split six to four with Tory members refusing to endorse the report and branding it "partisan".

Conservative Louise Mensch called it "a real great shame" that the report's credibility had potentially been "damaged" as a result, with the report carried by Labour and Lib Dem members backing it.

News Corp said in a statement it was "carefully reviewing" the report and would "respond shortly", adding: "The company fully acknowledges significant wrongdoing at News of the World and apologises to everyone whose privacy was invaded.

'A blind eye'
The BBC News Channel's chief political correspondent Norman Smith said the report was much more damning than had been anticipated.

He said the "crunch" statement was that Rupert Murdoch was "not a fit person", adding: "This is a blow to the very heart of the Murdoch empire. They are questioning his integrity, his honesty."

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/05/01/3094311/tzipi-livni-resigns-from-knesset
Israel

Tzipi Livni resigns from Knesset
May 1, 2012
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Former opposition leader Tzipi Livni resigned from Israel's Knesset.

Livni delivered a prepared statement on Tuesday afternoon announcing her departure from the legislature prior to a meeting with Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin at which she submitted her letter of resignation. She did not take any questions from reporters.

"I shall continue to work for a different Israel, our children deserve no less," she told Rivlin upon submitting her resignation.

Livni said that although she was leaving the Knesset, she was not going to absent herself from public life. She said in her speech that she was "not sorry for refusing to sell out the government to the haredi Orthodox in order to form a government," a swipe at current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

[Sabrina]

Yet more on Murdoch, and it's not going away...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2138271/Ethics-watchdog-demands-action-UK-MPs-say-Rupert-Murdoch-fit-run-major-firm.html
2 May

'Murdoch should be stripped of U.S. Fox TV licences': Ethics watchdog demands action as UK MPs say he's 'not fit' to run major firm
Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington calling for action
Group wants plug pulled on Murdoch's 27 Fox licences in the U.S.

An ethics watchdog is calling for Rupert Murdoch's broadcast licences in the U.S. to be revoked, following the UK parliament's highly critical report on phone hacking.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is demanding that the Federal Communications Commission pull the plug on News Corporation's 27 Fox channels.

The move should go ahead, said CREW's director Melanie Sloan, because Murdoch has 'clearly failed the character test embedded within U.S. media law'.

Under FCC rules, only people with 'good character who serve the public interest' can run broadcast frequencies.
The fact Murdoch had failed to do this was evident, she said, from the House of Commons culture, media and sport committee's conclusion he was 'not fit to run a major international company'.

In a letter to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, she said: 'If they're not passing the character standard under British law, it seems to me they're not going to meet the character standard in America.'

She also insisted that, as more information emerged about the failure of the firm to deal with its crisis, federal agencies would be forced to act.
And she revealed she has written to the U.S. Senate and House committees on commerce to demand congressional hearings into whether the Murdochs are fit to hold the licences.

The calls came after a particularly damaging day for Rupert Murdoch. Yesterday, a UK Commons committee declared he was 'not a fit person' to run an international company.


full story at link

[Sabrina]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/02/us-chesapeake-mcclendon-hedge-idUSBRE8410GG20120502
Reuters 2 May

Special Report: Inside Chesapeake, CEO
ran $200 million hedge fund

NEW YORK | Wed May 2, 2012 6:02am EDT
(Reuters) - As chairman and CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp, Aubrey McClendon has been a powerhouse in the vast U.S. natural gas market, directing the company's multibillion dollar energy-trading operation and setting output targets for America's second-largest producer.

Behind the scenes, a Reuters investigation has found, McClendon also ran a lucrative business on the side: a $200 million hedge fund that traded in the same commodities Chesapeake produces.

On Tuesday, two weeks after Reuters reported that McClendon has taken up to $1.1 billion in loans against his stakes in Chesapeake oil and gas wells, the company stripped McClendon of the chairmanship and reiterated that it's reviewing details of the loans. A statement quoted McClendon, who will stay on as CEO, saying that the move will enable him to focus his "full time and attention on execution of the company's strategy."

But for at least four years, from 2004 to 2008, McClendon's attention extended well beyond his job at Chesapeake.

During that time, said a veteran trader who helped run McClendon's private hedge fund, the Chesapeake executive engaged in "near daily" communications and "exhaustive" calls to help direct the fund's trading.

The fund, Heritage Management Company LLC, was started by McClendon and Chesapeake co-founder Tom Ward. The hedge fund listed Chesapeake's headquarters in Oklahoma City as its mailing address, documents show. Heritage's staff included an accountant who was simultaneously employed by Chesapeake. The fund also earned McClendon and Ward management fees and a cut of profits from outside investors.

There is no evidence that McClendon or Ward used inside knowledge gleaned from Chesapeake in their hedge fund trading. Neither the company nor McClendon would comment, and Ward said he saw nothing wrong with the arrangement.

But experts on energy trading, corporate governance and commodity-market regulation said they were stunned by the latest revelation.

"An executive's first responsibility is to shareholders and the betterment of their investment," said Carl Holland, who ran the trading-compliance department at former U.S. oil major Texaco. "Personal trading in the commodity around which the CEO's business is based would be a clear no. We would never have tolerated that, ever."

Thomas Mulholland, a risk-management consultant to oil and gas producers for Golden Energy Services in St Louis, said such matters are "taken very seriously by energy companies, and there are strict codes against it. Even if there is just a whiff of impropriety," he said, "it can be enough to lead to a termination."

The commodities markets are less regulated than equity markets, where corporate executives are prohibited from trading stock in their own companies based on undisclosed financial information. In commodities markets, insider trading isn't illegal unless price manipulation can be proven.

Nonetheless, personal dealing in energy markets is typically forbidden by oil and gas companies for a variety of reasons.

full story at link (a rang of resignations in the energy sector posted before)...



and



BOSTON | Wed May 2, 2012 1:34am EDT
(Reuters) - Three years ago, John Galanek co-founded FX Transparency LLC to give big investors a more sophisticated view of their foreign exchange trades.

But Galanek, who previously managed forex trading for Harvard University's massive endowment, was surprised to find little initial interest from major pension funds and other potential customers. To help keep the consulting startup going, he had to max out a second mortgage, tap his savings and even "broke the glass" on his 401(k) account.

Prospects included the clients of the world's two largest custody banks -- BNY Mellon Corp and State Street Corp -- but most seemed satisfied with the prices they got on their trades even though there hadn't been independent audits. The highly lucrative corner of Wall Street generated $1.5 billion in revenue for the two banks in 2009.

But today, the once-fat forex profit margins at the two banks are under attack. Small forex analysis firms have disrupted the marketplace by providing a clearer picture of what the banks have been charging. As a result, many pension funds and other major investors are set to pay much lower fees for foreign exchange transactions than they have in the past.

BNY and State Street have countered by rolling out more transparent, but less lucrative services. Both banks also are spending more on their legal bills as they fight a host of federal and state lawsuits and investigations alleging they massively overcharged their pension fund clients on forex trading.

[Sabrina]

http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/01/news/economy/occupy-may-day/?hpt=hp_t3

reported by CNN Money :)

Occupy May Day goes global


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Occupy May Day went global on Tuesday, as demonstrations stretched from California to New York and from Europe to the Caribbean.
Occupy San Francisco got an early start to the traditional May Day workers' protest, kicking off its organized rally at 8 p.m. local time on Monday.


San Francisco, once a stronghold of the dispossessed, has become a playground for the rich and a living hell for those of us who can't keep up or have no interest in capitalist relations," Bay Area protest organizers said in a statement.

On Tuesday, rush hour traffic was flowing on the Golden Gate Bridge, despite protesters' threats to shut it down.
In Southern California, protesters scheduled a rally against allegedly unfair labor practices at Los Angeles International Airport, according to Occupywallst.org.

An airport police spokeswoman said the gathering proceeded without any disruption to airport operations.
In Seattle, police reported several arrests Tuesday evening after confrontations between officers and demonstrators. Offenses included vandalism and striking an officer.

In New York, Occupy Wall Street planned protests at bridges and tunnels, with picket lines slated at the Chase Building, the New York Times building, Sotheby's and Manhattan's main U.S. Post Office.

Hundreds of protesters marched south from Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan to downtown's Union Square. The crowd that gathered in Union Square grew to about 1,000 people later in the day, as the weather improved.

At least 50 people were arrested and that number is expected to increase, according to an NYPD spokesperson. The majority of the arrests were for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Protestors were arrested on the Williamsburg Bridge, at Union Square during a rally and during a protest march from Union Square to Wall Street Tuesday evening, according to the spokesperson.

Most of the individuals were charged with disorderly conduct and no NYPD officers were injured.

Global protests
May Day protests were also held in Greece and Turkey. Two thousand people gathered in Syntagma Square in Athens, and another 7,000 protesters gathered outside a factory where employees haven't been paid in six months, according to their union.

Thousands of protesters in Istanbul's central Taksim Square were met with a police presence.

Marches were also planned to Trafalgar Square in London, where police closed streets and arrested three men in Exchange Square outside Liverpool Street, according to the London Police.

"The popular media narrative is that Occupy is dead, but what we're here to show is that that's far from the truth," said Occupy Wall Street spokesman Mark Bray. "The issues that we're talking about are too important to go away."

Bray said that Occupy has united with workers' unions and immigrant rights groups "to show that the 99% is what really drives this country."

The rain let up in the afternoon, when Occupywallstreet.org reported that there were "several marches still on the move across NYC."
In Washington, Occupy demonstrators marched from McPherson Square near the White House to the lobby of a downtown office building Monday afternoon. The building includes UBS, a source of capital to finance strip mining.

One of the demonstrators dumped a bag of coal on the marble floor as members of the group took turns leading protest statements.
May Day has historically been a day of protests in some countries outside of the U.S. On Tuesday, workers marched in Moscow and Havana and protested in Madrid.

The Occupy movement had organized protests in 125 U.S. cities, according to Occupywallst.org. The theme was a general work strike to create "a day without the 99%" -- no work, no shopping, no banking.

and

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/02/occupy-may-day-protests

[Sabrina]

http://the2012scenario.com/2012/05/who-wants-to-be-a-trillionaire/#more-117004

Who Wants to be a Trillionaire?
2 May - Steve Beckow

One of the items David Wilcock reproduces in his latest article is this video on Graham Hawksworth, a “bond authenticator”; that is, if he’s legitimate. According to a British court, which recently sentenced him to six years, he isn’t. He may be part of the global market dealing in bonds, one lot of which was worth more than the British economy – trillions of dollars. You may remember Udo Pelkowski discussing some of the bond finds his associates made in the Philippines last winter. (1)

Who Wants to be a Trillionaire? was featured on British television and gives a little of the background on how the Federal Reserve first got into floating large bond issues to indemnify Chang Kai Shek, who gave his gold to the United States to keep it from falling into the hands of Mao’s Communist cadres.

It just touches on the tricks used in producing the bonds to allow American agents to arrest anyone they didn’t want to have possession of them – like mis-spellings or a few bonds in the mix produced on inkjets, all of which could be used to assert fraudulence when it served the “national interest” to do so.



fDnFK81Hqt8


Footnotes
(1) See “Evidence Corroborating David Wilcock’s Recent Allegations: Philippine Gold, Platinum, and Cash, Dec. 30, 2011, at http://the2012scenario.com/2011/12/evidence-corroborating-david-wilcocks-recent-allegations-philippine-gold/ ; “Treasure Hunters Declare Their Find and Offer to Return It,” Jan. 1, 2012, at http://the2012scenario.com/2012/01/treasure-hunters-declare-their-find-and-offer-to-return-it/ ; “Udo Continues the Story of the Filipino Treasure,” January 1, 2012, at http://the2012scenario.com/2012/01/udo-continues-the-story-of-the-filipino-treasure/

[Sabrina]

Posted elsewhere, but for the record including here.

ARREST WARRANTS: Liens Filed Against G7 Central Banks
David Wilcock, Divine Cosmos, 01 May 2012

http://divinecosmos.com/start-here/davids-blog/1051-g7banks

Arrest warrants have now been issued against the international branches of the Federal Reserve — the European Central Banks, BIS, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Japan.

MAJOR CHANGES ABOUT TO HAPPEN

It is terrifying to discover that the world is being run by psychopaths — who want to see billions of people die.

Many people can’t even face it. Their mind just shuts down — and they often attack the messenger.

Nonetheless, no corrupt regime has ever survived the light of full public exposure. Our current situation is no different.

There is abundant evidence that this group is real — and will soon be defeated. Major changes are about to happen in the world.

Indeed, a small group of international bankers have seized control of the planet and its resources. Their plan has been in place for 300 years, and was followed with ruthless efficiency.

The difficulty of unseating this group is extreme, due to their penetration into all aspects of our society — including the media, the government and the judiciary.

Nonetheless, it appears that they are about to be overthrown by an international coalition of 138 nations — who have banded together to end Financial Tyranny.

(David prefers we not reproduce his articles in whole so please go to http://divinecosmos.com/start-here/davids-blog/1051-g7banks for the rest.)


and some quotes:



Neil Keenan: The OLD FED … want 5-6 Billion people on this planet dead. That’s right – dead. We, as a global community, cannot stand by and watch this happen. Something must be done. …

I’m working on behalf of a much larger alliance, who have assured me they will take these steps we are making very seriously – and use them as grounds to move against our common enemies. …

David Wilcock: What do you expect to get out of this?

NK: Recognition, first of all. Everyone must recognize how they have worked.

They kept the money amongst themselves, and have excluded everyone else — even the owners — from one cent of it for 60-plus years now.

This is outright robbery. Now it is time to recover what belongs to others, and to look at the damage done to our own systems as well.

Secondly, let’s repair what needs fixing if it is at all possible.

Third, many humanitarian projects throughout the world will no longer be funneling into the pockets of private interests, but can actually do what they are intended to do.

There is so much more to look at. It can go on forever. …

DW: Do you really expect this to all come tumbling down? About 10 to 15 percent of our audience is very sarcastic about this and cannot believe anything we say until it actually happens.

NK: If the legal system or Admiralty Law does its job, it will come down — and it will be a new beginning for all.

For some, it will just in the nick of time. For others it will be too late. For far more people, who have much time to spare, it directly paves the way for a wonderful future.

DW: Do you have anything else to say before we go?

NK: Yes, David, one final note. We have all the agreements in hand — not just from the Amanah [Indonesian officials]. We will bring them forth, if necessary, to the Admiralty Courts.

It will be insane for anyone in the Federal Reserve to even attempt to fight this. Any documentation they might attempt to fabricate and produce would have about as much value as a bubblegum wrapper.

They have trapped themselves in their own system — with no room for escape. It has taken many, many years for this to reach a head, but we finally have freedom within our grasp.

I wish everyone the very best. I will continue fighting this good fight and making sure that justice will be served.

[Sabrina]

Benjy's take on it:


http://kauilapele.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/benjamin-fulford-5-1-12-chaos-on-multiple-fronts-as-controlled-implosion-of-financial-cabal-continues/

Benjamin Fulford 5-1-12…”Chaos on multiple fronts as controlled implosion of financial cabal continues”

[Sabrina]

A flurry of postings on 1 May. And for those open to Matthew's messages, here's an extract:

http://www.matthewbooks.com/mm/anmviewer.asp?a=148&z=2
1 May

11. Your world is being transformed by evolution, not revolution. The outcome of revolutions has been a changing of the guard that benefitted a comparative handful of persons, but because pervasive darkness remained, control of the peoples was continued by the group that took over the reins of power. What is happening now not only will hold the dark ones accountable for their deeds, but also will guarantee that no others with like intentions of global domination can chart the course of your world’s destiny.

full message at link

[Sabrina]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/01/bank-of-america-layoffs-senior-bankers_n_1467207.html

1 May
Bank Of America Plans To Lay Off 2,000 Senior Bankers

Occupy Wall Street protests are the least of Bank of America's problems. The bank is starting to lay off its more profitable employees.

On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Bank of America, the nation's second largest bank by assets, plans to lay off 2,000 staffers in investment banking, commercial banking and foreign wealth management. The layoffs are significant, the WSJ writes, because: "of whom they target: the high-earning employees whose efforts helped Merrill Lynch account for the bulk of Bank of America's profit since he financial crisis."

The planned layoffs come after the bank's announcement last fall that it would cut 30,000 jobs: mostly less well-paid positions in consumer banking.

The layoffs are meant to signal that Bank of America will slash its expenses enough to bring them in line enough with lower revenue, according to the WSJ. Bank of America has seen its revenue plunge 22 percent between 2009 and 2011 (while total employee pay rose 17 percent) due in part to fewer mergers and acquisitions as economic growth stays sluggish and new financial regulations prevent more lucrative risk-taking. The bank's expensive acquisition of Countrywide also left it saddled with toxic mortgages, according to the WSJ.

Bank of America needs to reassure its investors any way it can. Its stock price has plunged 54 percent over the past two years, according to Google Finance.

Bank of America apparently first tried to cut pay for its investment bankers before pursuing layoffs. In January, Bank of America cut pay 25 percent and froze base salary levels and capped cash bonuses at $150,000 for some investment bankers as part of an effort to slash expenses by a total $6 billion to $8 billion per year, according to Bloomberg News.

Bank of America is one of many banks cutting staff. Wall Street is planning to slash up to 21,000 jobs soon, Fortune Magazine reports. The financial industry already has shed 459,400 financial industry jobs over the past four years, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Business Journals.

[Sabrina]

News of what happened below:


PEACEFUL & LAWFUL CITIZENS' ARREST OF GEORGE OSBORNE - 30TH APRIL 2012


https://www.facebook.com/events/283107395109665/
David Searle
Bertie Bert has summarised everything correctly. I believe several people witnessed the police stating to me that George Osborne had left an hour before by the back way. Also was given confirmation at around 9:50 a.m. by a senior SOCPA officer that there would be no problem having the Notice delivered if Osborne didn't show. When it came to that however, the senior regular officer told us they weren't able to deliver it (citing various reasons) - by which time the SOCPA officer had disappeared and the regular police denied any knowledge of his having been there.

The police attending were generally polite, humane and courteous. Nevertheless there is strong evidence on the face of it that some collusion and planning had taken place both regarding Osborne's escape and the refusal of the Notice.

Signed Notice posted special delivery today tracking no. ZX064996889GB Scans here: http://pdfcast.org/pdf/osborne-signed-notice ; http://pdfcast.org/pdf/osborne-signed-notice-envelope

[Sabrina]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/01/richard-grenell-resigns-mitt-romney-campaign_n_1468613.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HP%2Fmedia+(Media+on+The+Huffington+Post)

1 May

Richard Grenell, Controversial Mitt Romney Spokesman, Resigns

Richard Grenell, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's controversial choice for national security spokesman, is leaving the campaign less than two weeks after his appointment.

The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin, who broke the news Tuesday, suggested that the openly gay Grenell, a former George W. Bush administration official, likely resigned because of a "full-court press by anti-gay conservatives." Grenell confirmed his resignation in a statement to Rubin:

I have decided to resign from the Romney campaign as the Foreign Policy and National Security Spokesman. While I welcomed the challenge to confront President Obama’s foreign policy failures and weak leadership on the world stage, my ability to speak clearly and forcefully on the issues has been greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues that sometimes comes from a presidential campaign. I want to thank Governor Romney for his belief in me and my abilities and his clear message to me that being openly gay was a non-issue for him and his team.

The Huffington Post recently reported that days after joining the campaign and coming under fire for numerous sexist and impolitic statements he had made about prominent women and members of the media, Grenell scrubbed over 800 tweets from his Twitter feed and deleted his personal website.

and

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/curious-resignation-richard-grenell/515226

and


http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2012/May/01/second_staffer_for_nc_house_speaker_resigning.html


Second staffer for NC House speaker resigning

North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis said Tuesday a second person on his staff has been forced to resign after having an inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist.

Amy Hobbs, a policy adviser to Tillis, confirmed to The Associated Press that she offered her resignation Sunday _ three days after Chief of Staff Charles Thomas resigned when a newspaper questioned him about a relationship with a lobbyist for the state's residential home building industry.

According to Tillis, the new disclosure came out after he questioned some staff members Sunday about rumors floating around the Legislative Building about them. Tillis wouldn't immediately identify the adviser but said the person would resign effective by the end of the week.

Tillis told reporters he also would set up policies in his office to make very clear that romantic relationships between staff employees and people such as lobbyists or the appearance of them are inappropriate, even though they may not currently be unlawful or violate state ethics rules.

[Sabrina]

Auditors have started jumping ship as well, as previously posted - some out of HOng Kong.... S

(Pyne Gould Corporation - New Zealand

RE: Resignation of KPMG as the PGC Group’s Auditor.
1 May
KPMG have resigned as the PGC Group’s Auditor. The reasons they have given for the resignation are:
“Unresolved differences as to whether certain transactions should be disclosed as related party transactions, and concerns over the adequacy of governance and management of financial reporting”

PGC strongly rejects these claims by KPMG and has advised KPMG accordingly.


About them:

Throughout our history, Pyne Gould Corporation has continually evolved and adapted to the changing business environment while remaining true to our values of integrity, professionalism and quality.

Pyne Gould Corporation has a long and proud New Zealand history, stretching back to the 1850s, starting with a stock and station business in Canterbury. That original business, through organic growth, acquisitions and mergers, continues today with PGC retaining strong South Island links while developing to become an Australasian asset and wealth management business made up of three core business units:

Perpetual Group
Torchlight Investment Group
Property Group

[Sabrina]

Not a good resignation - pity he was forced to...


http://brianallmerradionetwork.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/05-01-12-cwc-news-pearce-epa-out-of-control-administrator-resignation-a-good-start/

1 May

WASHINGTON, DC— EPA Region VI Administrator Al Armendariz resigned Monday, after a video surfaced in which Mr. Armendariz says the administration should “crucify” lawbreaking oil and gas companies in order to set an example for others. Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Congressman Steve Pearce (R-NM) released the following statement in response to the resignation:

“Mr. Armendariz’s comments only magnified the EPA’s tyrannical environmental policies, exposing President Obama’s true energy agenda. President Obama claims to be in support of an “all-of-the-above” approach to our nation’s energy independence, including supporting American oil and gas to spur economic growth and create jobs. However, using scare tactics to deter companies from doing business in America is not a policy our administration should be standing for.

“This incident gives a glimpse into the culture President Obama has created within the EPA and the rest of his Administration, and it is not one that is representative of America or the way we do business. While Mr. Armendariz is now gone, there are no doubt many more officials who are also guilty of promoting practices that stand in the way of American energy production, job creation and ultimately, our economic recovery.”

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http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/05/01/finra-resignation-idINL1E8G1MNA20120501
USA

May 1 (Reuters) - A board member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has resigned after settling a disciplinary case alleging that he failed to supervise a broker at his firm, a FINRA spokeswoman confirmed on Tuesday.

Joel Blumenschein, president of Freedom Investors Corp, resigned less than three months before his term on the FINRA board was to end. Blumenschein's Brookfield, Wisconsin-based brokerage employs about 30 brokers, according to a regulatory filing.

On April 23, Blumenschein settled the case without admitting or denying the allegations. He was suspended for three months as a supervisor in the securities industry and fined $30,000.

FINRA's allegations against Blumenschein are not uncommon in the securities industry. But his situation is unusual because it marks an instance in which the Wall Street industry-funded regulator disciplined a brokerage president who also happens to be one of its board members.

Reached late on Tuesday, Blumenschein told Reuters he was out of town and hadn't yet officially stepped down. He would complete the process soon, he said.

FINRA alleged that he failed to supervise a broker who engaged in unsuitable penny stock trades in a retirement account for a "a customer of limited means," according to a FINRA regulatory filing. The broker also made transactions in the customer's account without permission from the customer, the filing said.

Efforts to locate the broker late Tuesday were unsuccessful.

The firm's "supervisory system was so inadequate that Blumenschein was unable to provide a consistent or coherent" description of how it worked during testimony, according to the FINRA document. Blumenschein did not admit or deny the findings.

His name did not appear in a list of board member on FINRA's website late Tuesday.

The planned resignation of Blumenschein was reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier Tuesday. (Reporting By Suzanne Barlyn; Editing by Gunna Dickson)

[Kimberley]

Thank you Sabrina for all your effort maintaining this list!!!
Much love!!

[Sabrina]

http://www.vosizneias.com/105498/2012/05/01/israel-ousted-opposition-leader-tzipi-livni-to-resign-from-knesset

More on this:

Israel - Ousted Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni To Resign From Knesset

Jerusalem - Israel’s recently ousted opposition leader Tzipi Livni plans to quit parliament on Tuesday but will remain active in politics, a confidant said.

Livni, who headed the Kadima Party for more than three years, was ousted as party leader several weeks ago by former defense minister Shaul Mofaz.

The confidant said Livni is to formally submit her resignation later in the day. He spoke on condition of anonymity pending the formal resignation.

Just a few years ago, Livni was one of the country’s most popular politicians. A former foreign minister and chief negotiator with the Palestinians, she is well known in international circles and routinely shows up on lists of the world’s most influential women.

But during her tenure as opposition leader, she faced heavy criticism for what was widely seen as an ineffective term.

There has been speculation she might join a new party headed by former TV personality Yair Lapid. An opinion poll published this week predicted that a party including Livni and Lapid could be the second largest party in parliament, behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud.

Netanyahu is widely expected to declare early elections soon.

[Sabrina]

BEIJING, May 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Qiao Xing Mobile Communication Co., Ltd. ("QXM" or the "Company") (NYSE: QXM), a domestic manufacturer of mobile handsets in China, today announced that Mr. Kok Seong Tan has tendered his resignation as chief financial officer ("CFO") of the Company for personal reasons, effective immediately. The Company is presently seeking a new CFO to replace Mr. Tan.

and
Hong Kong
The board (the “Board”) of directors of Zhuguang Holdings Group Company Limited (the “Company”) announces that, with effect from 1 May 2012, Dr. Liang Tongying (“Dr. Liang”) resigned as an independent non-executive Director of the Company, a member of the Audit Committee, a member of the Remuneration Committee and the chairman and member of the Nomination Committee due to the need to focus on his teaching career.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/national/south-australia-chief-justice-john-doyle-announces-resignation/story-e6frfku9-1226342882401

South Australia Chief Justice John Doyle announces resignation

SUPREME Court Chief Justice John Doyle has announced he will retire from the bench in June.
In a statement released this afternoon, Chief Justice Doyle says he has already submitted his resignation to Governor Kevin Scarce.

"On 4 May 2012 I will have been Chief Justice for 17 years," he says in the statement.
"Although I have been considering this move for some time, this was not an easy decision to make.
"However, I believe that it is best to make room for someone new.

[Sabrina]

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/may/01/freddie-mac-vp-resigning/


WASHINGTON – A top executive at government-controlled mortgage giant Freddie Mac is leaving the company about a year after he was promoted to oversee its single-family mortgage business.

Anthony Renzi resigned to accept a job with another financial company, Freddie CEO Edward Haldeman said in an internal email. The other company wasn’t named. Renzi’s departure as executive vice president of single-family business and operations and technology takes effect next month.

The move is the latest departure of top executives from Freddie and its larger sibling Fannie Mae, which were rescued by the government in September 2008 after massive losses on risky mortgages threatened to topple them. Taxpayers have spent about $170 billion to rescue the companies – the most expensive bailout of the financial crisis. It could cost nearly $200 billion more to support the companies through 2014 after subtracting dividend payments, according to the government.

CEO Haldeman plans to leave this year as well.

Paul Mullings, a senior vice president, will temporarily assume Renzi’s responsibilities.

[mountain_jim]

I don't thank every (there are so many :) ) post here from you, Sabrina, but I read them and appreciate your efforts to provide all these news items here. Thank you!

[Sabrina]

A high ranking government security officer detained....

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/04/30/raw-reports-nuclear-threat-from-germany/

Raw Reports, Nuclear Threat from Germany (updated)
6 Decades of Deception

By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

I will keep this short as possible. A single nuclear weapon has “gone missing” as of last week, one of four missing but this one “more missing” than the others.

The Thames Valley Police, famous for their fictional representations in the Colin Dexter detective novels, detained a high ranking government security officer, department to remain unnamed, at the behest of what we are told is the Home Secretary.

Time we put a call in to Inspector Lewis? Morse, played by John Thaw, would never have allowed such a thing. John Thaw was always a favorite and his pub of choice, The Trout outside Oxford is a nice stop off, you can misplace a nuke, torture a spy, this time one of your own, and make it home with fish and chips. I do so love Britain.

Now, to put this is American English.
A nuclear weapon that wasn’t supposed to exist, a single 500 kiloton hydrogen bomb, one of four being tracked, was seen being loaded at the German port of Bemerhaven, Germany.
The groups assisting in what we were informed was a counter-terrorism surveillance operation were the American NSA, British MI 6, the Office of Naval Intelligence and the British Royal Navy. The “device” was loaded onto a Germany built “Dolphin” submarine and left the harbour doing 7.5 knots.

The submarine disappeared while being tracked by every sophisticated device NATO seems to be able to own or borrow.

At least one of those from among the listed agencies was arrested by the local police force in Oxford, their electronic surveillance gear siezed, were confined for 12 hours despite being above arrest and detention as a senior NATO intelligence officer.

Attempts to track the sub in the busy harbour were in vain and it is unknown what the nationality of the crew were or the destination, whether the UK, the US or some place in the Middle East.

What we do know is that Germany and other NATO nations, in a highly disputed exception to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, had held 182 such weapons until all had supposedly been given back to the United States in 2005.

We now know this to be untrue. There are several possible scenarios:


Germany is a nuclear power in violation of international treaties and both Germany and the US are lying
The German government is in violation of international treaties and is selling or transfering nuclear weapons to unknown third parties

Terrorists have stolen a nuclear weapon that Germany was holding illegally
Germany is involved in a terror plot aimed at a third party, Iran, the United Kingdom or the United States
The submarine in question may or may not be one Germany is giving to Israel, this one with a “special enhancement” which, as we had questioned earlier, might be used against Iran, the United Kingdom or United States.

We know the British government at some levels, some departments, are aware of this action and are responding with retribution against their own intelligence services. This seems to be an indication that some authority within Britain seems to have gone rogue, certainly the Thames Valley Police, possibly the Home Office and we can’t help but want to take a long hard look at David Cameron and his many mysterious meetings with Rupert Murdoch, the “not very Australian” ultra-nationalist/Likudist Israeli who stands somewhat accused of endless criminal acts or perhaps not.

Nobody in Britain actually knows.
Is someone planning to blow something up somewhere? Are these just simply Germany boys on a lark, stolen submarine, borrrowed illegal nuclear weapon, kind of a prank?

Then again, we have the Bush administration. Assurances were made that all such weapons had been out of German hands 7 years ago. We now have direct evidence, eyewitnesses, that indicate that the US failed to follow the provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that it is using as a pretext to threaten Iran with violations of.

Oddly, Israel never signed the treaty and is, by conventional standards, considered a “rogue state.”
A fuller accounting indicates that the warheads may not be American but were of Soviet design. We know the number to be four.

One has been traced to a location inside the London itself. Other locations for this one are likely New York, Lower Manhattan for a December delivery, tuned down to 100 kt, perhaps to pass off as another plane crash. Mombasa and other African ports are on the lists as well. There is a very nasty controversy between US intelligence agencies on information sharing as to this issue. As this is an actual operation, not a “rumor,” attempts to keep secrets or mislead just aren’t going to work anymore, as this article has proven.

Weapons of this type are generally located through use of specialized aircraft, in this case, the Boeing Sentinal E3D. These are highly modified 707 aircraft. The British have 7 of these operating out of RAF Waddington. They were placed on “mechanical fault standown” on April 14. Who would have thought all these planes were preparing to discombobulate?


We find this “coincidence” rather curious and call for an official inquiry into the accidental and sudden failure of Britain’s most valuable air assets.

The individuals and sources of this story will, at their request, not be credited. If anyone out there if familiar with the radiation signature of an aging Soviet 1/2 megaton nuclear warhead, we would be glad to print that information, hoping the appropriate authorities might stumble upon it here.

Additionally, if anyone spots a Dolphin submarine, please give us a ring also, same reasons.

An interesting response by John Kettler:
ETs/EDs Raid Bremerhaven, Germany Last Week;

“Disappear” Dolphin Sub, Nuke & Crew While Under Comprehensive NATO & Intelligence Agency Surveillance!
ETs/EDs (extraterrestrials/extradimensionsals) of the Liberation Forces raided Angela Merkel’s Germany last week, a move expected by the writer, given Germany’s decades of WMD (weapons of mass destruction) proliferation (chemical weapons and precursors, supplying missile expertise, illegal sale of ultra centrifuges to anyone with cash, plus providing quiet Diesel-electric subs to Israel, but set up to allow for rapid conversion to nuclear cruise missile launch platforms). Call the ETs/EDS most unhappy!

The “normal” part of this amazing tale is here, in a withering article by Senior Editor Gordon Duff of Veteran’s Today, but what concerns us is the hidden side of this, the ETs/EDs‘ disappearing of a Dolphin sub, crew and highly illegal 0.5 megaton nuclear weapon after they put to sea (reportedly then making 7.5 knots in crowded Bremerhaven Harbor)–while under comprehensive surveillance by both NATO and multiple international intelligence agencies from the U.S., U.K., and Germany! The ETs/EDs say if anyone asks “Where’s the sub?” the answer is “We have it!”
ETs/EDs Exclusively Reveal Sub Was Bound For Israel!

Apparently, guilt and greed in Germany know no limits, and Russia has yet again been found dispensing nukes to all comers with cash in hand, according to the ETs/EDs. What Gordon Duff mentioned in passing in his article, the ETs/EDs state specifically: “The nukes in his article are Russian, and Russia will pay dearly for this latest transgression in a long string. The Dolphin sub was en route to Israel and did have an Israeli crew.”

ETs/EDs Fully Expect “International Repercussions” From Gordon Duff’s Article & This Post
It’s taken a long time, but Germany has been officially caught with her hand in the nuclear cookie jar, and Russia, whose nuclear peccadilloes rouse such ire in officialdom there when outed, will have much to explain, not just to terrestrial authorities but to her “topside” ally, with whom she’s already in both the exopolitics penalty box and the doghouse. According to one of the ETs/EDs, “Expect Russia’s most advanced fighter, the SuMi-41, armed with “topside” supplied energy cannon, to disappear outright from the Russian inventory. There may be other punitive measures taken as well.”

The ETs/EDs mean what they say when it comes to honoring treaty terms with them, and nothing is taken more seriously than anything involving proliferation or use of nuclear weapons. The ETs/EDs haven’t figured out what will be done about Germany, but they say “It’ll hurt and be highly visible.” Rest assured, that’s no hollow threat. Just ask Hugo Chavez or Benjamin Netanyahu! “Israel,” the ETs/EDs say, “will also be chastised.” Whether or not that chastisement will extend beyond the loss of a pricey sub, expensively trained crew and a highly illegal, expensive nuke “is presently undecided.” The overall impression received, both directly and indirectly, is that the ETs/EDs are really angry and upset over the outrageous actions of Germany, Russia and Israel.

http://johnkettler.com/etseds-raid-germany-take-dolphin-sub-nuke/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+johnkettler%2FkfXL+%28John+Kettler+Investigates%29

hmmmm.....

http://www.demotix.com/news/1188356/railway-station-closed-olympic-security-exercise-london
2 May
Railway station closed for Olympic Security Exercise - London

and


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17922490


Royal Air Force Typhoon jets have arrived at an airbase in London for a large-scale Olympic security exercise.

The aircraft will be based at RAF Northolt, taking part in eight days of training over London and the home counties until 10 May, as part of operation Exercise Olympic Guardian.

It is the first time fighter jets have been stationed at the west London site since WWII.

But anti-military campaigners warn the jets will create a "climate of fear".

[mountain_jim]

The Kettler side of the above article (with links to both) is also being discussed here:

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?44585-Kettler-ETs-EDs-Raid-Bremerhaven-Germany

[foreverfan]

611 BANKER RESIGNATIONS (http://americankabuki.blogspot.com/p/131-resignations-from-world-banks.html)
Through 4/22/12

Either the NWO is putting in their new people or the NWO is falling. Pick one and you may be right.

[GoodETxSG]

Thank you Sabrina for all your effort maintaining this list!!!
Much love!!

NO Doubt, should start your own organized complete web site with all of this research. It would be a great tool both for the groups fighting the good fight but also for us trying to get some of this info in an organized and credible way to our friends and family.

[Sabrina]

US (previous story) and Australian regulators now looking at Murdoch. Altho' there's powerful friends out there, think it is unravelling...

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/03/business/australia-murdoch-review/index.html?hpt=ibu_c2

Australia regulators reviewing UK Murdoch report
By Kevin Voigt, CNN
May 3, 2012 -

(CNN) -- The Australian media regulatory agency is "digesting" the blistering report from British lawmakers that said News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch was "not a fit person" to run a major international company.

"The ACMA is reviewing the British MPs committee report but is not intending to make any further comment at this stage," said a spokesperson for the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA).

The damning report accused Murdoch and his son James of showing "willful blindness" to phone hacking at the News of the World tabloid and said the newspaper "deliberately tried to thwart the police investigation" into the illegal activity.

The now-shuttered tabloid's publisher, News Corp. subsidiary News International, "wished to buy silence in this affair and pay to make the problem go away," the Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee found.
Tuesday's ruling by the Parliament committee could prompt British regulators to force Murdoch to sell his controlling stake in British Sky Broadcasting, a significant part of his media empire. The News Corp. board issued a statement Wednesday announcing "its full confidence in Rupert Murdoch's fitness and support for his continuing to lead News Corporation into the future as its chairman and CEO."

Rupert Murdoch 'not fit' to run company UK: Murdoch not fit to run business Rupert Murdoch: 'I was not aware' Will bad day for Murdoch hurt business? UK panel: Murdoch 'turned blind eye'
In Australia, the ACMA has jurisdiction over Foxtel Cable TV, in which Murdoch's News Ltd owns a 25% stake.
"The ACMA's test is different from the UK's 'fit and proper person' test. The ACMA administers a 'suitability' test for licensees," the spokesperson wrote by e-mail. "The focus of that test is on the suitability of the licensee, Foxtel Cable TV.

"To be assessed as unsuitable, there needs to be a significant risk of a breach of the Broadcasting Services Act or license conditions by the licensee, Foxtel Cable TV ... the ACMA will continue to monitor developments to ensure the Act is adhered to."

The phone hacking controversy which has led to criminal arrests in the UK has attracted headlines but little else in Murdoch's home country of Australia, where he began building his media empire. News Corp. subsidiary News Ltd. now runs 70% of Australia's newspapers and its only national newspaper, The Australian.

"The reaction here has been surprisingly muted, I think because most people regard what's happening as something only that's happening in the UK -- it's interesting, it's exciting, but it doesn't really have any impact in Australia," said Bruce Arnold, a lecturer in Law at the University of Canberra.

"I think some people are waiting with baited breath and wondering whether this beautiful façade will start to crumble here, too," Arnold said.

The office of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy told reporters Wednesday there was no evidence that Murdoch employees engaged in phone hacking in Australia.

In the wake of the phone hacking allegations, the Australia government formed the Independent Media Inquiry in September, also known as the Finkelstein hearings, led by retired judge Ray Finkelstein. The panel was charged to, in part, review the effectiveness of the Australian Press Council to handle complaints against the media.
But Australian media observers said the panel was convened to put pressure on Murdoch publications for aggressive coverage against the ruling Labor Party.

"The Murdoch press has been extremely critical of the Labor government here and a perception here that it had an absolute agenda of attacking the Labor government," said Martin Hirst, an associate professor of journalism at Deakin University, who gave testimony at the Finkelstein hearings.

Still, the recommendations made from the inquiry -- including a statutory authority that would regulate news and commentary -- was rejected in a government report, the Convergence Review, issued Monday about proposed changes Australian media regulations. "While agreeing with much of the analysis and some of the findings of the Independent Media Inquiry, the Convergence Review recommends an approach based on an industry-led body for news standards rather than a statutory body," the report said.

Given the weakness of the ruling Labor Party in popularity polls, Australian media observers say there is little political will to take a hard look at Murdoch media operations there.

"I think the crucial thing is here there isn't a community interest. If (politicians) saw that there is strong community support to take on Rupert Murdoch, to say, `we will vote for you on the position that you'll go in there and clean the stables, ' then maybe they'd act," Arnold said.

"But there is no community pressure for that, unless we have a real revelation about malpractice in the Australian media industry in a big way," he added.


Now if they joined up the dots in Australia - they'd see the link with Murdoch and so called weather modification over there:

A friend has been lobbying ABC to wake up on this.


Australia gives murdoch $10m for chemtrails haarp geo engineering qld floods nwo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMCWgQYSnSM


and


Colin Andrews who was covering this years ago.

Colin Andrews Research on Australian Radar Patterns as being associated with secret HAARP and or weather modification experiments has been vindicated.
News that the Australian Government have given 10 Million dollars to close relative of the infamous and out of favour Rupert Murdock (of UK News of the World Crime).
It was Colin’s lone work two years ago when he demanded a full scientific investigation into apparent links he
made between Australian Radar Anomalies with sudden changes in its weather – Now two years later, Infamous Rupert Murdock and Australian Government come to the surface on the tangled web of issues surrounding secret HAARP and Weather Modification projects by the Australian and possibly US governments.
Australia gives murdoch’s relative $10m for chemtrails/harp/geo-engineering/queensland-floods/Colin-Andrews-Radar/




http://www.colinandrews.net/

[Sabrina]

Seems to be some repositioning going on here then.... I wonder why?? :)


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17935201
UK 3 May Robert Preston correspondent:

The boom and bust of Mervyn King

(Governor of the Bank of England)



Last night, I heard Sir Mervyn King, in the Today Programme Lecture, largely excusing the Bank of England for its failure to prevent the great crash of 2007-8: he blamed the recklessness of banks; he blamed a collective "failure of imagination" to see that banks' huge increase in lending was the mother of all dangerous bubbles waiting to burst; he blamed the last Labour government for stripping the Bank of England in 1997 of its direct powers to regulate banks.


I had heard all of that before, in his speeches, evidence to the Treasury Select Committee and briefings, as a recurring theme since the banking and finance debacle of four years ago that has hobbled our economy.

But I was too knowing, especially about the significance of Sir Mervyn saying all that in a very public forum, on the BBC.

In a way, I underestimated the power of the BBC's Today programme, in that it provides a megaphone that turns almost anything he (or perhaps anyone) says into news.

His phrase that seems to have caught much of the media's imagination was: "We should have shouted from the rooftops that a system had been built in which banks were too important to fail, that banks had grown too quickly and borrowed too much, and that so called 'light-touch' regulation hadn't prevented any of this."

Put as baldly as that, it looks like a powerful admission of error on his part. But it is not all he said. That resonant phrase was preceded by "with the benefit of hindsight", which massively reduces its force.

When any of us say "if I knew then what I know now", we are excusing ourselves, rather than apologising.

Anyway, enough of semantics and the searching of my own conscience about whether and how I misread the newsworthiness of the speech. When every newspaper treats an event as news, I have to accept it is news, by definition.

That said, the speech was one of the clearest expositions that he has ever made of how he sees the boom and bust that will shape our prosperity for arguably a decade, at the very least.

Actually, I should rephrase that, he doesn't believe there was a boom - which many would say is the most contentious thing he said.

Sir Mervyn put it this way: "Whether in this country, the United States, or Europe, there was no unsustainable boom like that seen in the 1980s; this was a boom without a bust".

The moment he said it, he raised a few hackles. His former colleague from the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee, Andrew Sentance, tweeted: "disagree with Mervyn King that fin crisis was bust without a boom...it was just very long boom!"

full story at link and


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9242592/Sir-Mervyn-King-admits-BoE-failed-over-financial-crisis.html

Sir Mervyn King admits BoE failed over financial crisis

Sir Mervyn King has said - in a rare admission - that the Bank of England failed to do enough to warn about the risks building up in the banking sector ahead of the financial crisis.



We did preach sermons about the risks. But we didn't imagine the scale of the disaster that would occur when the risks crystallised," he said.

"With the benefit of hindsight, we should have shouted from the rooftops that a system had been built in which banks were too important to fail, that banks had grown too quickly and borrowed too much, and that so-called 'light-touch' regulation hadn't prevented any of this ...
He said the Bank "tried, but should have tried harder" to persuade everyone of the need to recapitalise the banks sooner and by more.

However, he claimed the Bank was hamstrung by the decision to move regulation to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in 1997 – a reform "that would return to haunt us". It left the Bank with the limited power of "publishing reports and preaching sermons". Regulation is now being moved back to the Bank.

full story at link

[Sabrina]

LampLightGroup put this together from the recent Wilcock news:


TlFP9oGTzBo

[Sabrina]

Useful report from Scott Mowry putting a lot of info. together across the globe and reminding us of just how much is happening out there!

Historic Global Economic Transformations Moving Rapidly Forward

Major debt relief measures begin as prelude to mass arrest scenario while energy waves intensify from galactic center

News | May 2, 2012

Reported by Scott Mowry | www.miraclesandinspiration.com/news_historic-global-economic-transformations.html



The transformation to a revolutionary new economic system for the world's people has progressed into all-out, full force mode. Moving like a rumbling freight train down the tracks, it has become an unstoppable force and is finally on the verge of full implementation for the benefit of all mankind.

Signs of major historic changes are emerging nearly every day, around every corner, from all points across the globe.

Freeing the world from economic slavery is, at this time, perhaps the single most important objective to be implemented in order for humanity to move headlong into the long-awaited Golden Age. It will be the first of many stages that will totally emancipate humanity forever and allow for a completely peaceful transition onto the new Earth.

In the modern era, money has been one of the main instruments of control over humanity and from its very inception, it has been used to benefit the money changers at the expense of the people. That paradigm is rapidly shutting down, as a new higher one emerges.

PLAN FOR MASS ARRESTS TAKES SHAPE
The battle over control of the world's economy is at its most intense it has ever been. From secret back door negotiations to desperate, frantic searches for hidden assets in far flung regions of the globe to all-out pitched gun battles in back alleys –– you name it, it is happening somewhere on the planet.


Meanwhile, international banksters continue to fall like rows of dominos, one after another, resigning from their golden perches headed for a life of uncertainty, or perhaps to one complete with an orange jumpsuit. The banker's endless nefarious money laundering schemes are now running up dry at every turn. In essence, it has all come down to a scenario in which the banksters can no longer get away with the same old dirty tricks that used to work so beautifully before.

full story at link

[childs hood end]

Sinn Féin Northern Ireland MEP Bairbre de Brún has resigned for personal reasons, it was confirmed today.

Ms de Brún (58) was the first Sinn Féin member to represent the North in the European Parliament following her success in the 2004 European elections.

She went on to top the poll in 2009, the first time her party headed the poll in the European elections in Northern Ireland.

Sinn Féin confirmed that Ms de Brún has submitted her resignation to the European Parliament but would remain a member of the party.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said the party would hold a convention shortly to select a new MEP.

http://news.ie.msn.com/sinn-f%C3%A9in-mep-de-br%C3%BAn-resigns

[Sabrina]

Thank you Sabrina for all your effort maintaining this list!!!
Much love!!

NO Doubt, should start your own organized complete web site with all of this research. It would be a great tool both for the groups fighting the good fight but also for us trying to get some of this info in an organized and credible way to our friends and family.

Thanks but I expect it would then become a chore not a pleasure as it is now to just flit through cyberspace and give my take on it - without having to fit in with anyone's shrill idea of what's right or not. Have noticed the resignation sites are running out of steam a bit at the moment, as it must take a lot of time to really nail down all the resignations and arrests. And not sure I can cope with any more organisation in the 3D world.... Could ask for sponsorship I suppose :) can come up with a long list of people who wouldn't sponsor it though...

Friends and family - well they're the worst 'till they start waking up by themselves.... Have one daughter who has, and one son who hasn't, and love to see her tell him that actually there's something in what 'ole mum is saying lol..

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2139177/Trinity-Mirror-boss-Sly-Bailey-shown-door-amid-shareholder-anger-pay.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
3 May UK

Trinity Mirror boss Sly Bailey is shown the door amid shareholder anger over pay

Trinity Mirror boss Sly Bailey will part company with the publisher at the end of the year, as mounting shareholder anger over pay claimed a high-profile scalp.

Her departure – after a decade at the helm of the newspaper group that includes both Mirror titles and The People – comes just days before investors were due to voice their disgruntlement at the firm’s annual meeting.
Bailey has been paid some £14million during her tenure, while the value of the group has plummeted from more than £1billion to just £97million amid falling advertising revenues in print media.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

In the UK anyway, it's noticeable that the shareholders are really starting to fight back and it's been covered in the financial press - a shift going on here!



4 May UK

Fat cat backlash: Aviva bosses latest to feel shareholder anger over executive pay


The backlash against boardroom greed spread from Britain’s banks to the rest of the City yesterday as ordinary shareholders rose up against fat cat pay deals.

Bosses at insurance giant Aviva were left humiliated after their multi-million pound bonuses were rejected by investors at their annual meeting.

Yesterday’s outpouring of anger at the lavish pay packages afforded to Aviva executives follows a string of embarrassing rebukes against other firms.

* Small savers and pension investors can have a voice on excessive executive pay too. We have teamed up with the FairPensions campaign to offer a tool that allows you to send your views to your pension fund or ISA provider. Have your say on fat cat pay...


Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2139363/Fat-cat-backlash-Aviva-bosses-latest-feel-shareholder-anger-executive-pay.html#ixzz1tsyRl3sj

[Sabrina]

More on the fall out from the Bank of England BBC interview, posted here yesterday.....

4 May UK

MPs demand probe into Bank of England's failure after Sir Mervyn admits to mistakes on financial crisis


MPs yesterday called for an urgent investigation into the Bank of England’s role in the financial meltdown of 2007 and 2008.

The institution’s governor, Sir Mervyn King, admitted this week that he should have done more ‘to prevent the disaster’ – the worst since the 1930s.

David Ruffley, a senior Tory MP who sits on the Treasury Select Committee, said a probe could not ‘come soon enough’...............

The Tory chairman of the committee, Andrew Tyrie, said: ‘The Bank is taking on considerable new powers in the Financial Services Bill, currently before Parliament.

‘Yet we still do not have firm and agreed conclusions about the mistakes that were made and which the legislation is, presumably, seeking to address.’

John Mann, a Labour member of the committee, called on Sir Mervyn to apologise for the Bank’s handling of the credit crunch.

There certainly should be an inquiry into the Bank’s mistakes and it is a shame that Sir Mervyn has rebuffed the proposal in the past,’ he added. ‘We need to know where the Bank failed, and why. We also need to look at his role, because he was a big part of the problem.’

In a BBC interview yesterday, Sir Mervyn was accused of being ‘scared’ of a large-scale inquiry into the Bank’s conduct before, during and after the crisis.


Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2139367/MPs-demand-probe-Bank-Englands-failure-Sir-Mervyn-admits-mistakes-financial-crisis.html#ixzz1tt0IcuPF

[Sabrina]

It's one way of resigning from it all...

http://americankabuki.blogspot.co.uk/

Edmund Leopold de Rothschild Dies at 84

I am not sure why this took so long to get into the major papers considering he died on April 19th, 2012, and he was such a prominent figure but here's what I've found so far.

Most of the obituaries are making him out as a musical philanthropic and miniature train enthusiast. They say very little about his banking activities in Latin America and his funding deep involvement in the CO2 caused Global Warming scam.

The only really good photo I could find was one with him in a train engineers hat, so I created his composite above. He was involved in far more than orchestras, choirs, and miniture scale railroading. He appears to have never married.


"Leopold de Rothschild, who has died aged 84, was a member of the Rothschild banking family and had a distinguished career in finance; his greatest passions, however, were classical music and steam trains, and he was well known as a leading musical philanthropist."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/finance-obituaries/9241866/Leopold-de-Rothschild.html


"After leaving Cambridge and brief training at other banks, Leo joined his family’s bank, NM Rothschild & Sons, becoming a partner in 1956 and in 1970, when NMR became the last London accepting house to relinquish its private partnership status, an executive director. From 1970 to 1983 he sat as a director on the Court of the Bank of England, like his great-uncle Alfred before him.

Leo de Rothschild was heavily involved in establishing or re-establishing Rothschild’s Latin American offices, especially Mexico, Brazil – where he was responsible for leading the financing for the Rio-Niteroi bridge – and Chile, a country he particularly loved, forming close links with the Matte family.

He played an integral part in the development of the Banking Division and established Rothschild Intercontinental Bank in 1969, bringing together the Rothschild houses and a number of continental firms with historical links to Rothschild."
http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/banking-heir-doubled-as-musical-benefactor-20120503-1y19q.html


"Born in 1927, Leopold de Rothschild, CBE was educated at Bishop's College School (Canada), Harrow School, and then Trinity College, Cambridge. His career has seen him in many prestigious roles, beginning with his position as Partner of N.M.Rothschild & Sons Limited in 1956. He became Executive Director upon incorporation in 1970, focusing principally on overseas involvement with Latin America.

Mr. de Rothschild became Director of the National Provincial Bank (later National Westminster Bank [NATWEST]) from 1963 until 1970, and Director of the Bank of England from 1970 to 1983. Between 1982 and 1995, Mr. de Rothschild was a Director of Sun Alliance and London Insurance PLC and he also founded and chaired the Anglo Venezuelan Society from 1975 and 1982, of which he is currently Vice-President.
http://www.wqxr.org/#!/people/leopold-de-rothschild/


Edmund Leopold de Rothschild banker for Global Warming Scam
"After Edmund [Leopold] de Rothschild’s statement, without basis, at the 4th World Wilderness Congress in 1987, that CO2 is the cause of a non-existent global warming – and that combating it needs money (our money), he founded the World Conservation Bank for this reason. In 1991 its name was changed to The Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The purpose of this facility is to lend money to the poorest countries, printed by the IMF out of thin air, and with the guarantee of our governments. The facility takes wilderness areas with mineral riches as security. The GEF money is then to flow back to our governments as reimbursement for paid loans. I.e. We give away our tax money. For what?

When a country cannot repay loans to the GEF it must give up a piece of its territory to the Rothschild banks (GEF, IMF, World Bank) – up to 30% of the Earth are meant. If land cannot be offered as collateral the country must starve (Haiti, Argentina and others).

Rothschild´s stroke of genius was that he had his GEF smuggled into the UN system at the Rio UN Summit in 1992 by his friend, Maurice Strong. So now high-ranking ministerial officials from 179 countries are in the the council of the bank – blessing Rothschild grabbing the world!"
http://soldierforliberty.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/the-maurice-strong-rothschild-connection-beyond-the-co2-scam-and-into-control-of-land-and-food/


British Venezueland Society: http://britishvenezuelansociety.org/society.html


Former Vice President and Director Banco Bice SA
Leopold de Rothschild served as Vice-President of Banco BICE SA. Mr. de Rothschild served as Non-Executive Director of Rothschild & Sons Ltd.
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=6551189&privcapId=875783&previousCapId=21719&previousTitle=The%20McGraw-Hill%20Companies,%20Inc.

Banco Bice S.A offers traditional financial services in Chile. It also specializes in foreign trade, financing of investment projects, and provision of advisory services in the field of corporate investments. In addition, the company offers hypothecating financings and services, and leasing and brokerage of nonprevisual insurances. Banco Bice was founded in 1979.
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=875783




Board Members Affiliated with Leopold de Rothschild
AGE:88 [NOTE: AGE LISTED IS 4 YEARS OLDER THAN THE OBIT]
Total Annual Compensation (unknown)
Former Vice President and Director of Banco Bice SA
Corporate Headquarters, Teatinos 220 Santiago,
Region Metropolitana (Santiago)
Chile

Éric de Rothschild
Chateau Rieussec
Board Affiliations
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited

Douglas N. Daft
Retired Chairman, CEO and Chairman of Executive Committee of Coca Cola Company (2000-2004)
Independent Director and Member of Compensation, Nominating & Governance Committee of Wall Mart Stores Inc. (2006-N/A)
Director of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc.
Advisory Board member of Longreach, Inc.,
Advisory Board member of Tisbury Capital

Director Tisbury Fund Limited (1999-2004)
Advisory Board member of Thomas H. Lee Partners

Former Director SunTrust Banks, Inc. (2003-2012)
Member of the European Advisory Council for N.M. Rothschild & Sons Limited
Member of the Board of Governors of Thunderbird School of Global Management
The Garvin School of International Management in Arizona

Trustee Emory University
Trustee of the Cambridge Foundation
A Visiting Fellow, Oxford University Business School
Director Center for Strategic and International Studies, Inc.
Director Grocery Manufacturers Association
Trustee The American Assembly

Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Churchill Archives Center, Churchill College, Cambridge
Patron of the American Australian Association
Director and member of Audit and Compensation Committees of Sistema-Hals (Russian Real Estate Developer, 2009-Present)
Director McGraw Hill Companies Inc. (Publishing House, 2005-Present)
Board Affiliations
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited

Anthony Alt
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited
Board Affiliations
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited


Anthony Salz
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited
Board Affiliations
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited


Peter A. Smith
Savills plc (Real Esetate Services)
Board Affiliations
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited


Andrew Didham
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited
Board Affiliations
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited


Mark Evans
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited
Board Affiliations
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited


David de Rothschild
Paris Orleans S.A.
Board Affiliations
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=6551189&privcapId=875783&previousCapId=21719&previousTitle=The%20McGraw-Hill%20Companies,%20Inc.


Most Connected People to Leopold De Rothschild
Name Relationships
Douglas N. Daft 163 Relationships
Peter A. Smith 55 Relationships
David de Rothschild 28 Relationships
Andrew Didham 23 Relationships
Éric de Rothschild 20 Relationships
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/relationship.asp?personId=6551189


FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2012
Death of Leopold de Rothschild, CBE

Leopold David de Rothschild, CBE, scion of the great banking dynasty, died 19 April, 2012. He was 85.

He was born 12 May, 1927, a son of Maj Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, OBE (1882-1942) by his wife the former Marie-Louise Eugenie Beer (d 1975), dau of Edmund Beer, of Paris.

Mr De Rothschild was a partner, N.M. Rothschild and Sons, &c. He was appointed CBE in 1985.http://peeragenews.blogspot.com/2012/04/death-of-leopold-de-rothschild-cbe.html
Posted by AMERICAN KABUKI at 9:43 PM 0 comments
Labels: Edmund Leopold de Rothschild, Obituary

[Sabrina]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/02/medicare-fraud-crackdown-_n_1471642.html?ref=business

2 May USA

Medicare Fraud Crackdown: 100 Doctors, Nurses, Social Workers Charged In Historic Bust

MIAMI -- Federal authorities charged 107 doctors, nurses and social workers in seven cities with Medicare fraud Wednesday in a nationwide crackdown on unrelated scams that allegedly billed the taxpayer-funded program of $452 million – the highest dollar amount in a single Medicare bust in U.S. history.

It was the latest in a string of major arrests in the past two years as authorities have targeted fraud that's believed to cost the government between $60 billion and $90 billion each year. Stopping Medicare's budget from hemorrhaging that money will be key to paying for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder partnered in 2009 to increase enforcement by allocating more money and staff and creating strike forces in fraud hot spots.

On Wednesday, hundreds of federal agents fanned out around the country, raiding businesses, seizing documents and charging 107 suspects in Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, Detroit, Chicago, Tampa, Fla., and Baton Rouge, La. The government suspended payment to 52 providers as part of the investigations.

"When President Obama took office he asked Attorney General Holder and me to make fraud prevention a cabinet-level priority," Sebelius said in remarks prepared for a news conference in Washington.

Among those arrested Wednesday were the owners of two community mental health centers in Baton Rouge, charged with billing $225 million in their scams. Hoor Naz Jafri and Roslyn Dogan allegedly recruited vulnerable patients, including elderly people, drug addicts and the mentally ill. Patient charts were doctored to show services that were billed to Medicare but often never given, according to an indictment.

[Sabrina]

Bank of New York Mellon Chief Resigns in a Shake-Up Along with Over Six Hundred Bankers Worldwide No Explanations
2 May

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/2086/717/Bank_of_New_York_Mellon_Chief_Resigns_in_a_Shake-Up_Along_with_Over_Six_Hundred_Bankers_Worldwide_No_Explanations.html



By SUSANNE CRAIG New York Times -

Bank of New York Mellon’s chief executive and chairman, Robert P. Kelly, stepped down late Wednesday because of “differences in approaches to managing the company,” the bank said.

Pressure on the bank has been growing for months. While it has avoided the mortgage woes that have bedeviled the nation’s biggest financial institutions, it has come under scrutiny because of accusations that it and other custody banks shortchanged clients when executing currency trades for foreign transactions. In addition, Bank of New York’s performance has lagged that of its chief rival, State Street.



Total is now about 611 bankers worldwide.....

[Sabrina]

Bankster Spotting on Facebook says:
Forbes is coming clean - like all the quitters they want to disassociate with the "shady/dark side.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpollaro/2012/04/27/the-bernanke-bust-the-why-how-and-when/2/
27 APril

The Bernanke Bust, the why how and when

These graphics speak volumes. Now in its 44th month, the Bernanke monetary boom as measured by our TMS2 metric is up a cumulative 58% and tracking the now infamous Housing Boom-Bust monetary surge almost to a tee. Heck, at $3.1 trillion the Bernanke monetary boom is already 1.6 times the size of the monetary surge that produced the Housing Boom-Bust and a whopping 4.5 times the size of the surge that gave us the Tech Boom-Bust. What’s even more interesting is that the Bernanke monetary boom is still going strong. As noted above, the latest TMS2 reading shows it was sporting a 14.5% year-over year rate of increase versus the 9% and decelerating year-over-year rate seen in the 44th month of the Housing Boom-Bust cycle.

We think this kind of monetary largesse guarantees an economic bust. In fact, given the size of the monetary surge so far, it’s quite possible that the bust will rival the size and intensity of Housing Boom-Bust turn Great Recession. Worse still, we could be looking at something even bigger than that…

The Bernanke Boom – Bust-to-Be, Bigger than the Housing Boom-Bust?

Yes, there is a real chance that the coming Bernanke Bust could pack an even bigger punch than the Housing Boom-Bust. One simple reason… A lot more monetary largesse could be in in the offing.

We sight three primary inflationary forces…

First, it’s no secret that the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England (BOE) are running their own asset purchase and loan programs in an attempt to inject money into their fragile banking systems. What is a bit harder to see is that the US banking system has become a major beneficiary of that money. You see, as illuminated by Kash Mansori in his essay Europe’s Banking System: The Transatlantic Cash Flow, many European depositors are quite skeptical of European banks and are taking their deposit money, now being generously fed by ECB and BOE largesse, and re-depositing that money in the perceived relative safety of US banks. The result is a nice push for the US money supply. Indeed, the ECB and BOE have exploded their balance sheet footings 54% and 38%, respectively the past twelve months. In US dollar terms that’s a combined increase of roughly $1.4 trillion or 44%. Yet, contrary to basic money mechanics, the Eurozone and UK monetary inflation rates are languishing at multi-year lows…



While it’s true that the ECB and BOE are fighting to offset bank asset liquidations and resultant deposit destruction, that’s only part of the story. The other part of the story is the fact that ECB and BOE largesse is being exported to the States, contributing nicely to that robust 14.5% year-over-year rate of increase in the US money supply.

We’re thinking that as long as the European banking system is considered suspect, the US banking system and therefore the US money supply will continue to be goosed by European deposit flows. In fact, given the mounting sovereign debt crisis that is Europe, this is likely with or without the help of the ECB and BOE. If the ECB and BOE see fit to continue to grow their balance sheets, all the more monies likely to be exported to the States.

Second, as we discussed in last month’s essay, with excess reserves of some $1.5 trillion (owing to three plus years of Federal Reserve asset purchase and loan programs) yield starved banks – buttressed by improved liquidity and capital ratios, a Federal Reserve and US government still cleansing bank balance sheets of mortgage and mortgage related debt and near zero rate funding costs maybe as far out as 2014 – seem more and more willing to pyramid up those reserves into money and credit; i.e., to create uncovered money substitutes by making loans and buying assets. Have a look at the recent rate of change metrics in uncovered money substitutes and a proxy for its obverse, commercial bank credit as compiled by the Federal Reserve (the later which represents roughly four fifths of total bank credit). Both have been marching steadily higher and are currently touching two and a half year highs…



As we noted in that same essay, assuming a conservative reserve ratio of 10% on bank deposit liabilities - the highest reserve requirement ratio on the books – banks could theoretically triple the money supply, and do it simply by buying government securities.

full story and graphs at link

[Sabrina]

http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=PR&date=20120413&id=14986055

Free Documentary Solves Global Debt Crisis in 48 Minutes
April 13

VENUS, Florida, April 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

The Venus Project (TVP) today announces its 'Paradise or Oblivion' documentary, to provide prime ministers, presidents and other world leaders with the means to not only resolve spiralling national debt but also end poverty, war, crime, and inequality forever; simply by investing less than one hour of their time, just like the 175,000+ individuals that have already viewed the film.

This groundbreaking documentary not only identifies the root causes of many major global problems, but also recommends the steps that our species can take to solve such issues. 'Paradise or Oblivion' is available on the internet for free, in more than 24 different languages to ensure availability to all humans; race, colour or creed.

'Paradise or Oblivion' is the culmination of an astonishing 75+ years of research performed globally by what is now known as The Venus Project; founded and directed by Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows.

Based largely on anthropology, the documentary also spans almost all scientific and economic fields of study in order to provide a comprehensive solution to the problems of planet Earth and its inhabitants.

The documentary is the next step towards TVP's goal of an international motion picture, for which directors and scriptwriters are currently being considered.

'Paradise or Oblivion' can be viewed online at: http://www.thevenusproject.com

The Venus Project is an organization that proposes a feasible plan of action for social change working towards a peaceful and sustainable global civilization. This scientific company operates out of a 21-acre research centre located in Venus, Florida.

Other resources: Aims and proposals of TVP, FAQ, Media Archives, Resource- Based Economy description, Original music by Carly Paradis. Organization links:http://www.thevenusproject.com, http://www.paradiseoroblivion.com, http://www.tvpactivism.com, http://www.venus-expressions.org

For further information or to arrange an interview:Roxanne Meadows, Ph: +1-863-465-0321, e-mail meadows@thevenusproject.com

[transiten]

Sabrina, I haven't read it all, AT ALL but thank you anyway for your consistent effort to provide us with this info. I'm starting to take antibiotics today for lymedisease i was diagnosed with yesterday after 7 months of severe symptoms hoping to get well soon being able to concentrate again.

[Sabrina]

Thrive the movie is now free. Found it to be good stuff. Backs everything up for the doubters... Good practical info. on the site. Yep he's Proctor Gamble - but was impressed with him. Sab.

http://www.thrivemovement.com/the_movie

[Sabrina]

Sabrina, I haven't read it all, AT ALL but thank you anyway for your consistent effort to provide us with this info. I'm starting to take antibiotics today for lymedisease i was diagnosed with yesterday after 7 months of severe symptoms hoping to get well soon being able to concentrate again.

Thanks Transiten - hope you feel better soon. Have heard the Royal Rife frequency machines help. There's a Dr Jeff Sutherland in the US involved in this, but can't track down his website, but he's on the US forums about frequencies that help. ALso Dale Fawcett in Seattle has a company and knows about it all - but can't find his website at moment either.

[Sabrina]

Lots of repositioning going on everywhere!!


http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/once-remote-goldman-sachs-puts-on-a-friendly-public-face/?ref=business
3 May

Once Remote, Goldman Sachs Puts on a Friendly Public Face:)


After a steady stream of criticism since the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs is trying to burnish its image.

Last week, the company’s chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, gave rare back-to-back televised interviews to CNBC and Bloomberg Television, in which he emphasized the company’s focus on clients. And on Wednesday, he spoke at a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender conference called “Out on the Street,” explaining the company’s support for gay rights. In recent weeks, Goldman executives have been more talkative with reporters.

By stepping into the spotlight even a little, Goldman appears to be embarking on a subtle campaign to repair its reputation. The bank’s message is simple: Goldman cares about its clients and its community.


It is unclear whether such moves will change public perception, in large part because Goldman does not have a new story to tell. The financial company made a another public relations push a couple of years ago, with little success. In 2010, Goldman — still reeling from Congressional hearings, a government lawsuit and a less-than-flattering portrayal as a “vampire squid” in a Rolling Stone article — rolled out a series of national advertisements aimed at improving its public standing.

But with its latest effort, Goldman is taking a different tack by reaching out even though there is no blowup.

“Any time that you’re engaging proactively is a good thing,” said Michael W. Robinson, an executive vice president at Levick Strategic Communications, a public relations firm. “The press around Goldman is never going to go down to zero, but the goal is to be less interesting and less attractive as a target.”

full story at link

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/135518/chp-no-2-submits-his-resignation-.html

4 May Turkey

Turkey’s restive main opposition was hit by fresh turmoil yesterday as the right-hand man of party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu submitted his resignation, disgruntled with long-running disagreements over the party’s vision and a row over how to organize its influential Istanbul branch.

[Sabrina]

Ord River River Resources Australia

ORD likes to inform the market that Mr. Peter Shou has offered to resign as a Director and as Managing Director of ORD for personal reasons. The board has accepted his resignation and it is made effective 3 May 2012.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Rather think this resignation will be on the cards soon:

http://www.irishecho.com.au/2012/05/04/abuse-victims-seek-bradys-resignation-over-inquiry/18162

4 May Ireland

Abuse victims seek Brady’s resignation over inquiry

Specialist detectives are reviewing claims the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland knew in 1975 that five children were being abused by one of the country’s most dangerous pedophiles.

As Cardinal Seán Brady was increasingly isolated over his role in a secret Church inquiry into evil Brendan Smyth, a series of political leaders piled further pressure on him to quit.

Abuse victims including Brendan Boland and Sam Adair and others speaking anonymously led a chorus of calls for his resignation before Ireland’s deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore warned that anyone in authority who did not act should go.

[Sabrina]

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nepal-cabinet-resigns-to-pave-way-for-coalition-govt/945157/

4 May

Nepal cabinet resigns to pave way for coalition govt


All ministers in Nepal cabinet resigned en masse on Thursday night in a last-ditch attempt to pave way for the formation of a national consensus government to resolve the current political crisis as the May 27 deadline to draft country’s new Constitution draws near.

The ministers submitted their resignation to Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who is under attack from the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, at the secretariat of the Special Committee where the agreement was discussed and signed, according to a report by Republica.com.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha announced the resignation of all the Maoist ministers while Minister for

Physical Planning made the similar announcement on behalf of the ministers representing the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF).

Bhattarai will form a new coalition government including members of the main opposition parties, officials said. No date for the formation of the new government was announced.

Nepal’s parliament has until May 27 to write a new constitution, which will divide the country into new states. The assembly was elected in 2008 with a mandate to draft the document within two years, but the deadline has been repeatedly extended amid little progress.

[Sabrina]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/leveson-inquiry/9244580/Leveson-Inquiry-Andy-Coulsons-evidence-will-cast-shadow-over-Coalition.html

3 May UK

Leveson Inquiry: Andy Coulson's evidence will cast shadow over Coalition

Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s former communications director, and Rebekah Brooks, the former head of News International, are to give evidence at the Leveson Inquiry next week

The hearings are set to overshadow a key week for the Prime Minister who had hoped to regain the initiative by unveiling the Coalition’s policy agenda for the next year.

However, the week is likely to be dominated by renewed questions over the decision to appoint Mr Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World, as a key Conservative adviser.

Dozens of private text and email messages between Mr Cameron and Mrs Brooks are also expected to be made public, along with details of the close relationships enjoyed by her and several senior members of the Government.

Both Mr Coulson and Mrs Brooks have been arrested as part of the police investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World. The Crown Prosecution Service is considering whether Mrs Brooks should face charges over conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Lawyers for the Leveson Inquiry, which is looking into the relationship between politics and the media, will not question the pair about the phone hacking allegations. They are expected to focus on the relationship between News International and Mr Cameron’s administration.

[ThePythonicCow]

Bankster Spotting on Facebook says:
Forbes is coming clean - like all the quitters they want to disassociate with the "shady/dark side.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpollaro/2012/04/27/the-bernanke-bust-the-why-how-and-when/2/
27 APril

The Bernanke Bust, the why how and when

These graphics speak volumes. Now in its 44th month, the Bernanke monetary boom as measured by our TMS2 metric is up a cumulative 58% and tracking the now infamous Housing Boom-Bust monetary surge almost to a tee. Heck, at $3.1 trillion the Bernanke monetary boom is already 1.6 times the size of the monetary surge that produced the Housing Boom-Bust and a whopping 4.5 times the size of the surge that gave us the Tech Boom-Bust. What’s even more interesting is that the Bernanke monetary boom is still going strong. As noted above, the latest TMS2 reading shows it was sporting a 14.5% year-over year rate of increase versus the 9% and decelerating year-over-year rate seen in the 44th month of the Housing Boom-Bust cycle.
The above Forbes article strikes me as one of the more important financial articles I've seen of late.

It suggests to me that the next monetary bust will take a bit longer to happen, and be a bit bigger, than most are expecting.

Martin Armstrong has been anticipating a major turn in the financial markets in 2015. If the US Dollar lost its role as the worlds reserve currency in 2015, that would fit with this Forbes article.

[Sabrina]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/25/bp-engineer-arrest-internal-estimates
25 april
BP engineer's arrest may force company to reveal internal estimates on Gulf spill
Company disputes government figures but has fought release of its own data on how much oil leaked into Gulf of Mexico in 2010

The unveiling of the first criminal charges in the Gulf of Mexico disaster could force BP to disclose a closely guarded secret – its internal estimate of how much oil actually gushed out of its stricken well.

It's quite literally a billion-dollar question. The justice department, which announced the charges on Tuesday, against a former BP engineer, is also suing the oil company for damages in a civil case.

Those fines under the Clean Water Act will be decided by the amount of oil that flowed into the Gulf, up to $4,300 per barrel if the release is the result of gross negligence.

By the government's account, which estimated the well released more than 4m barrels of oil before it was brought under control, that could mean penalties as high as $17.6bn.

But BP has always disputed the government figures, and those of independent scientists. It has also fought in court to keep its own internal estimates of the flow rate a secret.

Now the affidavit released on Tuesday suggest that BP knew more oil was coming out of the well in the early days after the explosion on 20 April 2010 than it was reporting to the federal government or the public.

The discrepancy could have sweeping legal implications for the oil company in civil and criminal proceedings arising from the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

A day after the explosion, Kurt Mix, the former engineer charged on Tuesday, began modelling the potential flow rate from the BP well, according to the affidavit. He shared his estimates with an unnamed supervisor, suggesting the well was gushing between 64,000 and 138,000 barrels of oil a day.

At the time, however, BP and the coast guard were telling the public there was as little as 1,000 barrels of oil coming out of the well.

BP gradually raised its estimates in the days and weeks before the well was finally brought under control in July 2010.

However, the oil company refused at the time to even discuss how much oil was coming out of the well, claiming that it was a distraction from efforts to control the well.

The federal government adopted a similar position – much to the frustration of environmentalists and scientists.

"The flow rate has never impacted the response," BP America's chief operating officer, Doug Suttles, told the New Orleans Times Picayune in June 2010.

He went on to say the flow rate was "irrelevant".


The oil company and the federal government initially claimed it was impossible to arrive at an accurate estimate of the spill. However, independent scientists came up with a 70,000 barrel a day flow rate in May 2010 that turned out to remarkably close to the federal government's final estimate.

However, the affidavit released on Tuesday suggests that the flow rate was crucial to the success of BP's efforts to stop the well, with a procedure known as Top Kill. At a time when BP executives insisted Top Kill had a 70% chance of success, Mix and other engineers were privately warning that the procedure had little chance of working if the flow rate was more than 15,000 barrels a day. "Too much flow rate – over 15,000 and too large an orifice," Mix warned in a text to a supervisor.

In public, though, BP officials continued to say Top Kill was going according to plan for another two days.

Those arguments are set to continue in a federal court in New Orleans on Wednesday, where a judge is reviewing the $7.8bn settlement reached with 100,000 individuals for economic and medical claims.

A few hours after Mix's arrest, the justice department filed papers demanding BP produce its internal estimates of the flow rate, The Times-Picayune reported.

"It appears that BP intends to argue that the United States internal flow rate work should be produced while BP's should be protected," the justice department wrote. "That position is neither fair nor grounded in the law."

[Sabrina]

Greeks may vote against any party advocating the austerity cuts... and others in Europe may follow.




http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17935516

Greece election: New groups challenge old guard


On Sunday Greece will hold one of its most critical elections in decades.

With many voters registering a deep distrust of the two major parties, dozens of smaller parties have emerged - many with an anti-austerity agenda.

But where are the election posters?

I thought I spotted one on a lamp-post. It turned out to be for a concert. The picture not of a politician, but of a soft-permed crooner.

The main parties have been keeping a low profile - keen, would you believe, not to antagonise the voters or incite trouble. Politicians are not flavour of the month.

full story at link

[Sabrina]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/may/04/conrad-black-released-prison

Conrad Black released from prison
Former Daily Telegraph owner released in US after serving sentence for defrauding investors and obstruction of justice


Former Daily Telegraph owner Conrad Black has been released from prison in the US after serving about three years for defrauding investors and obstruction of justice.

The 67-year-old Canadian-born British citizen and peer, who famously threw a $42,000 birthday for his wife and is said to have told investors, "I can have a 747 if I want", was released from a low-security federal prison in Miami on Friday.

Black, whose media empire once included the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Chicago-Sun Times and Jersusalem Post, was immediately taken into custody by US immigration officials and now faces deportation.

He has stated his intention to return to Canada and regain the citizenship he renounced in 2001 when the government blocked him from accepting his peerage as Lord Black of Crossharbour. His criminal record, however, will mean he will have to wait at least five years to do so. Black has been granted a one-year temporary resident's permit by the Canadian government.

The former media tycoon was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison after a 2007 conviction by a US federal jury for conspiring with business partner David Radler – who was also the chief prosecution witness against him at the trial – and other executives to siphon off cash from the sale of newspapers as they unwound publicly listed Hollinger International.

[Sabrina]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/04/dominique-strauss-kahn-group-rape_n_1477090.html?ref=world
4 May

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Former IMF Chief, May Be Investigated For Alleged Group Rape


LILLE, France, May 4 (Reuters) - French investigators looking into Dominique Strauss-Kahn's ties to a suspected prostitution ring in the northern city of Lille want to extend the inquiry to cover alleged group rape by the former IMF chief and three friends, prosecutors said on Friday.

Strauss-Kahn is under formal investigation over whether he was aware he was dealing with prostitutes and pimps when attending sex parties in Lille, Paris and Washington in 2010 and 2011 allegedly organised by business acquaintances.

Investigators have asked prosecutors to widen the inquiry after a prostitute told them in her deposition that Strauss-Kahn and friends forced her to have sex in a group when she came to Washington to meet him in December 2010.

The woman has not filed a formal complaint.

"The prosecution is studying the request," a spokeswoman for the prosecutors said. "There are two possible options: the request is turned down or police open a preliminary investigation."

[Sabrina]

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/05/03/targeting-murdoch/

Targeting Murdoch

Quelle surprise! Britain’s parliament discovered what media critics and people wanting real news and information knew decades ago.

Murdoch’s world features demagoguery, managed news, scandal, sleaze, and warmongering. He’s the prototypical presstitute famed journalist George Seldes (1890 – 1995) denounced in books like “Lords of the Press.”

He called them “the most powerful force against the general welfare of the majority of the people.” He exposed their tactics long before Project Censored.

Major media scoundrels are villainous global pirates. Murdoch’s the worst of the bunch. Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) once called Fox News “the most biased name in news….with its extraordinary right-wing tilt.”

Viewing, it added, is like watching “a Harlem Globetrotters game (knowing) which side is supposed to win.” It’s hard-right, pro-business, pro-war, pro-occupation, anti-populist, sleazy and biased, combined with juiced-up infotainment and junk food news.

full story at link

It’s a virtual mouthpiece piece for extremist Republicans. It long ago stopped pretending it’s legitimate. It mocks real journalism. It’s not tolerated on air.
Famed Chicago columnist Mike Royko (1932- 1997) once said “no self-respecting fish would (want to) be wrapped in a Murdoch paper….”

[Sabrina]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/ron-paul-central-bankers-are-intellectually-bankrupt


Ron Paul: "Central Bankers Are Intellectually Bankrupt"
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/03/2012


Likely glowing from his glorious victory (h/t Trish Regan) over Krugman in Bloomberg's recent Paul vs Paul debate, Rep. Ron Paul destroys the central-planning arrogance of Bernanke and his ilk in an Op-Ed released by the FT today.


Control of the world’s economy has been placed in the hands of a banking cartel, which holds great danger for all of us. True prosperity requires sound money, increased productivity, and increased savings and investment. The world is awash in US dollars, and a currency crisis involving the world’s reserve currency would be an unprecedented catastrophe. No amount of monetary expansion can solve our current financial problems, but it can make those problems much worse.

full story at link

[Sabrina]

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/2095/057/Thing_Just_Got_Interesting.html
4 May

Thing Just Got Interesting

Russia backs return to Gold Standard to solve financial crisis...

Russia has become the first major country to call for a partial restoration of the Gold Standard to uphold discipline in the world financial system....

Chinese and Russian leaders both plan to open debate on an SDR-based reserve currency as an alternative to the US dollar at the G20 summit in London this week...

A long-time friend and colleague had told me early last week that someone he knows who lives in Switzerland said that the financial circles had been buzzing with a rumor that the BRICs were going to unveil a new currency trading/clearing system that would enable the world to conduct commercial trade without using the dollar or the nefarious SWIFT system.

Looks like there may be some truth to that rumor - here's the article: LINK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/g20-summit/5072484/Russia-backs-return-to-Gold-Standard-to-solve-financial-crisis.html

I want to point out and correct one egregiously incorrect statement in the article. The author avers that the dollar inflation caused by the Viet Nam War and the Great Society social welfare programs forced Nixon to "close" the gold window.

Actually what happened was that the Bretton Woods Agreement created a gold-backed system in which the United States could only issue debt to the extent that it had gold to back the amount of debt outstanding. Foreign sovereign creditors had the option of redeeming their debt claims for gold at the Fed "window." Eventually it became obvious to those paying attention - i.e. Charles De Gaullle - that the U.S. had issued debt well in excess of its gold holdings. The French began to redeem their Treasury notes for gold. When it was rumored that the Swiss were going to start doing the same, it became necessary for Nixon to close the gold window or risk a run on the U.S. gold "bank" and being exposed for violating Bretton Woods by issuing more debt there was gold in Ft. Knox to back it.

The rest, as they say, is history. Many of us have been arguing that eventually the Chinese/Russians/etc would eventually reassert a gold standard. When this happens the dollar price of gold will do a space launch and the standard of living in this country - for those who don't have any gold and silver - will decline to 3rd World standards...

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/2096/589/Eighth_Biggest_Corporate_Bankruptcy_In_Us_History;_1.6_Billion_Stolen;_Justice_Dept_Still_Hasnt_Inte rviewed_Corzine:_no_Evidence_..._Why_This_Case_Is_NOT_Going_Away.html
4 May


Eighth Biggest Corporate Bankruptcy In U.S. History; $1.6 Billion Stolen; Justice Dept Still Hasn't Interviewed Corzine: "No Evidence"... Why This Case Is Not Going Away



Former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who has come under fire as the bankruptcy trustee for MF Global will appear next week before a Congressional panel examining the collapse of the brokerage firm.

[sygh]

Bankster Spotting on Facebook says:
Forbes is coming clean - like all the quitters they want to disassociate with the "shady/dark side.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpollaro/2012/04/27/the-bernanke-bust-the-why-how-and-when/2/
27 APril

The Bernanke Bust, the why how and when

These graphics speak volumes. Now in its 44th month, the Bernanke monetary boom as measured by our TMS2 metric is up a cumulative 58% and tracking the now infamous Housing Boom-Bust monetary surge almost to a tee. Heck, at $3.1 trillion the Bernanke monetary boom is already 1.6 times the size of the monetary surge that produced the Housing Boom-Bust and a whopping 4.5 times the size of the surge that gave us the Tech Boom-Bust. What’s even more interesting is that the Bernanke monetary boom is still going strong. As noted above, the latest TMS2 reading shows it was sporting a 14.5% year-over year rate of increase versus the 9% and decelerating year-over-year rate seen in the 44th month of the Housing Boom-Bust cycle.
The above Forbes article strikes me as one of the more important financial articles I've seen of late.

It suggests to me that the next monetary bust will take a bit longer to happen, and be a bit bigger, than most are expecting.

Martin Armstrong has been anticipating a major turn in the financial markets in 2015. If the US Dollar lost its role as the worlds reserve currency in 2015, that would fit with this Forbes article.

Good catch, Paul.

[foreverfan]

I have a lawsuit against BP because I couldn't eat seafood for a few months. As of yet, they haven't sent me a check.

[wynderer]

i'd still like to know where they are all going after they quit -- have there been follow-up interviews w/those resigning? or are they all just quietly dropping out of sight?

[Sabrina]

Any chance that the real truth comes out - many other things are coming to the surface...



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17966362
5 May


Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other '9/11 plotters' back in court

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has claimed responsibility for planning the 9/11 attacks


An earlier attempt was halted three years ago when President Barack Obama tried to shut Guantanamo down.

New rules for Guantanamo trials have been since introduced, including a ban on evidence obtained under torture.

However, defence lawyers still say the system lacks legitimacy, because of restricted access to their clients.

President Obama's efforts to hold Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's trial in New York foundered in the face of political and public opposition and it will now be held at a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay, as previously planned.

A small number of victims' relatives have arrived at the military complex to attend the arraignment.

[modwiz]

Any chance that the real truth comes out - many other things are coming to the surface...



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17966362
5 May


Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other '9/11 plotters' back in court

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has claimed responsibility for planning the 9/11 attacks


An earlier attempt was halted three years ago when President Barack Obama tried to shut Guantanamo down.

New rules for Guantanamo trials have been since introduced, including a ban on evidence obtained under torture.

However, defence lawyers still say the system lacks legitimacy, because of restricted access to their clients.

President Obama's efforts to hold Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's trial in New York foundered in the face of political and public opposition and it will now be held at a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay, as previously planned.

A small number of victims' relatives have arrived at the military complex to attend the arraignment.

Ban on evidence gotten from torture. Interesting. They probably told him if he confesses to the act, they'll stop torturing him.

This is criminal theater.

The small number of victims relatives must have had their intellects damaged by their grief. Real grief, fake suspect. The last sentence about the victims and their relatives is the emotional shot for a good "sell".

I'm going to go puke now. :bad:

[Sabrina]

They are not playing ball...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/september-11-attacks/9248340/911-suspects-defiant-as-US-court-attempts-to-begin-trial-proceedings.html

9/11 suspects defiant as US court attempts to begin trial proceedings
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others accused of planning the 9/11 terrorist attacks have defiantly refused to take part in a disorderly court hearing where they were due to be charged with 2,976 counts of murder.

He has previously chosen to brag about his role as the mastermind of the worst terrorist atrocity in history.
But Khalid Sheik Mohammed sat mutely in his chair in a courtroom in the Guantánamo US naval base and refused to respond to a judge's questions at the arraignment of five men accused of the September 11 terror attacks.

The co-accused staged a show of silent defiance in a rocky start to the first court hearing of what is being described as the "trial of the century".

Walid bin Attash initially sat slumped in his chair in seat-belt type restraints after resisting attempt to bring him to court from his cell. He was later released from the shackles, on telling his lawyer that he would not disrupt the hearing.

And proceedings at the military tribunal were halted when a third defendant, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, went through a series elaborate prayer rituals, kneeling down next to his desk on a mat.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

WJpQJWpVJds

After arrests and resignations...

[Sabrina]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/30/us-greece-fraud-idUSBRE83T0NW20120430

Former Greek bank chief jailed in anti-fraud drive


ATHENS | Mon Apr 30, 2012 10:22am EDT
(Reuters) - A former bank chief was sentenced to eight years jail on Monday for fraud and forgery, court officials said, the first major conviction resulting from an anti-corruption drive ahead of a parliamentary election on Sunday.

An Athens court convicted Pavlos Psomiadis, former chief of small banking and insurance group Aspis, on charges of forging documents to keep his business afloat.

Corruption and cronyism are endemic in Greece. But no politician or senior businessman had been convicted in recent years, fuelling popular frustration with mainstream parties that pledge to uphold the debt-laden country's international bailout and remain in the euro zone.

"He was found guilty of fraud and forgery," a court official said. The conviction stemmed from a forged letter of credit for over 550 million euros ($729 million) that Psomiadis submitted to regulators in 2009.

Aspis was one of the first business groups to fall prey to the country's economic crisis. T-bank (AMBr.AT), a small lender that emerged from the wreckage of the group, was nationalized late last year under the terms of the country's EU/IMF bailout.

Monday's decision was the latest in a string of judicial moves as angry voters turn to smaller parties to punish the main conservatives and socialists whom they blame for the economic crisis and chronic corruption.

Earlier in April, a former defense minister was jailed pending trial on money laundering and bribery charges.

Last month, a Greek prosecutor filed felony charges against a prominent banker over a financial scandal that led to the EU/IMF-funded nationalization of small lender Proton Bank (PRBr.AT).

¤=[Post Update]=¤

via Facebook/resignation site

In the county of Arica in the northern part of Chile, the mayor and six council members have been arrested for corruption. I'm very busy this weekend, but at least in Chile it's all over the news.

[Sabrina]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/business/energy-environment/chesapeakes-chief-executive-addresses-disclosures.html?_r=1



HOUSTON — Chesapeake Energy’s chief executive, Aubrey K. McClendon, broke his silence on Wednesday after two weeks of media revelations about his byzantine financial dealings, but he expressed no remorse for anything except the distraction caused by the publicity. Shares of the natural gas drilling company closed down 14.6 percent.
Enlarge This Image

Sean Gardner/Reuters
Mr. McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Corporation. Record low prices are making life difficult for the company, whose stock price has fallen 45 percent in a year.
Related

full story at link

[Sabrina]

So my fellow Avalonians, what if Murdoch's downfall is just a distraction and they want him to be taken out of Sky TV ownership. And who will take over. And what power will they have with the boxes in the public's homes? And who is down at Sky's transmission facilities nowadays in London? Interesting eh...

[aranuk]

Hi Sabrina many thank you's for your work here. Sabrina how many bankers arrests do you think have been made recently?


Stan

[Sabrina]

http://wakeup-world.com/2012/05/05/landmark-lawsuit-by-us-home-owners-implicates-obama-and-big-banks-in-massive-global-laundering-scheme/

Landmark Lawsuit by US Home Owners Implicates Obama and Big Banks in Massive Global Laundering Scheme
5th May 2012

A new lawsuit, which is bordering on the unbelievable, implicates the Obama administration and some of the world’s largest banks in the largest international money laundering case in history.

This global money laundering network was allegedly formed during the Obama administration and helped banks rob U.S. home owners through offshore affiliates in infamous tax havens and money laundering hubs like the Cayman Island, Isle of Man, Luxembourg and Malaysia.

A press release published by Marketwatch (a website owned by the Wall Street Journal) via Marketwire on April 23, 2012, by America’s Spire Law Group, revealed that a mass tort action on behalf of home owners across the United States has been filed in the Supreme Court of New York, County of Kings.




The release states that the suit implicates every major bank servicer and their subsidiaries, as well as the Obama administration which allegedly was privately ratifying the formation of shell corporations in violation of not only the USA PATRIOT Act, but also State and Federal law as well.

This is all while the administration was very publicly encouraging home owners to modify their loans.

The suit, which has been assigned Index No. 500827 and was filed by the Spire Law Group and their affiliates and partners throughout the United States, also alleges that Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo Bank, Citibank, Citigroup, One West Bank, among other federally chartered banks stole hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. home owners through little-known offshore companies.

The money was then laundered through offshore corporations, and surprisingly the suit is quite explicit in identifying specific companies as well as the countries they are located in which were used to help defraud huge sums of money from Americans.

These activities are violations of the guidelines of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), New York state law, not to mention other states as well as federal law.

Columbus, Ohio-based trial lawyer and author Eric J. Wittenberg made some quite heated statements on behalf of the plaintiffs in the case.

“The laundering of trillions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money — and the wrongful taking of the homes of those taxpayers — was known by the Administration and expressly supported by it. Evidence uncovered by the plaintiffs revealed that the Administration ignored its own agencies’ reports — and reports from the Department of Homeland Security — about this situation, dating as far back as 2010,” Wittenberg said.

“Worse, the Administration purported to endorse a ‘national bank settlement’ without disclosing or having any public discourse whatsoever about the thousands of foreign tax havens now wholly owned by our nation’s banks. Fortunately, no home owner is bound to enter into this fraudulent bank settlement,” he added.

The many home owners involved in the case are suing these major financial institutions and their foreign allies not only for fraud and larceny but also for conversion and violations of provisions of New York state law and other laws.

If this lawsuit is what they are making it out to be, there could be a great deal of incredibly important information brought to light.

The press release states, “

This lawsuit explains why loans were, in general, rarely modified after 2009. It explains why the entire bank crisis worsened, crippling the economy of the United States and stripping countless home owners of their piece of the American dream. It is indeed a fact that the Administration has spent far more money stopping bank investigations, than they have investigating them. When the Administration’s agencies (like the FDIC) blew the whistle, their reports were ignored.”

“As if it is not bad enough that banks collect money and do not credit it to homeowners’ accounts, and as if it is not bad enough that those banks then foreclose when they know they do not have a legally enforceable interest in the realty, we now learn that they have been operating under unbridled free reign given by the Administration and some states’ Attorneys General in formulating this international money laundering network,” Wittenberg said.

“Now that the light of day has been shined on it, I believe we can all rest assured that the beginning of the end of the bank crisis has arrived,” he added.

All I can say is I hope he is right. This is truly one of the most astounding cases which has come to light in recent history, to say the least.

If this case is successful it could very well mean a major blow to the entire corrupt global financial system.

About the Author

Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database End The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at admin@EndtheLie.com

[foreverfan]

http://wakeup-world.com/2012/05/05/landmark-lawsuit-by-us-home-owners-implicates-obama-and-big-banks-in-massive-global-laundering-scheme/

Landmark Lawsuit by US Home Owners Implicates Obama and Big Banks in Massive Global Laundering Scheme
5th May 2012

A new lawsuit, which is bordering on the unbelievable, implicates the Obama administration and some of the world’s largest banks in the largest international money laundering case in history.

This global money laundering network was allegedly formed during the Obama administration and helped banks rob U.S. home owners through offshore affiliates in infamous tax havens and money laundering hubs like the Cayman Island, Isle of Man, Luxembourg and Malaysia.

A press release published by Marketwatch (a website owned by the Wall Street Journal) via Marketwire on April 23, 2012, by America’s Spire Law Group, revealed that a mass tort action on behalf of home owners across the United States has been filed in the Supreme Court of New York, County of Kings.




The release states that the suit implicates every major bank servicer and their subsidiaries, as well as the Obama administration which allegedly was privately ratifying the formation of shell corporations in violation of not only the USA PATRIOT Act, but also State and Federal law as well.

This is all while the administration was very publicly encouraging home owners to modify their loans.

The suit, which has been assigned Index No. 500827 and was filed by the Spire Law Group and their affiliates and partners throughout the United States, also alleges that Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo Bank, Citibank, Citigroup, One West Bank, among other federally chartered banks stole hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. home owners through little-known offshore companies.

The money was then laundered through offshore corporations, and surprisingly the suit is quite explicit in identifying specific companies as well as the countries they are located in which were used to help defraud huge sums of money from Americans.

These activities are violations of the guidelines of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), New York state law, not to mention other states as well as federal law.

Columbus, Ohio-based trial lawyer and author Eric J. Wittenberg made some quite heated statements on behalf of the plaintiffs in the case.

“The laundering of trillions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money — and the wrongful taking of the homes of those taxpayers — was known by the Administration and expressly supported by it. Evidence uncovered by the plaintiffs revealed that the Administration ignored its own agencies’ reports — and reports from the Department of Homeland Security — about this situation, dating as far back as 2010,” Wittenberg said.

“Worse, the Administration purported to endorse a ‘national bank settlement’ without disclosing or having any public discourse whatsoever about the thousands of foreign tax havens now wholly owned by our nation’s banks. Fortunately, no home owner is bound to enter into this fraudulent bank settlement,” he added.

The many home owners involved in the case are suing these major financial institutions and their foreign allies not only for fraud and larceny but also for conversion and violations of provisions of New York state law and other laws.

If this lawsuit is what they are making it out to be, there could be a great deal of incredibly important information brought to light.

The press release states, “

This lawsuit explains why loans were, in general, rarely modified after 2009. It explains why the entire bank crisis worsened, crippling the economy of the United States and stripping countless home owners of their piece of the American dream. It is indeed a fact that the Administration has spent far more money stopping bank investigations, than they have investigating them. When the Administration’s agencies (like the FDIC) blew the whistle, their reports were ignored.”

“As if it is not bad enough that banks collect money and do not credit it to homeowners’ accounts, and as if it is not bad enough that those banks then foreclose when they know they do not have a legally enforceable interest in the realty, we now learn that they have been operating under unbridled free reign given by the Administration and some states’ Attorneys General in formulating this international money laundering network,” Wittenberg said.

“Now that the light of day has been shined on it, I believe we can all rest assured that the beginning of the end of the bank crisis has arrived,” he added.

All I can say is I hope he is right. This is truly one of the most astounding cases which has come to light in recent history, to say the least.

If this case is successful it could very well mean a major blow to the entire corrupt global financial system.

About the Author

Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database End The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at admin@EndtheLie.com

Now that's what I'm talking about.

By the way... Thanks agian for the "Perfect Day" video. Hadn't seen that yet.

[KiwiElf]

So my fellow Avalonians, what if Murdoch's downfall is just a distraction and they want him to be taken out of Sky TV ownership. And who will take over. And what power will they have with the boxes in the public's homes? And who is down at Sky's transmission facilities nowadays in London? Interesting eh...

The fallout prompted a call on a popular NZ Investigatory Program, for a public investigation into Murdoch interests here. (NZ MSM News is pretty good - at least I'd put it at the opposite end of FOX LOL - we're seeing a great deal of this on NZ News, that SKY channels are not reporting)

A possibility?; the Murdoch case is also being used to weed out others involved - incl crooked British Politicians ? - and in the event that Drake et al's overall plan goes ahead, the good guys are going to need a bigger voice to get "a message" out ? It was stated earlier in the Fulford documents that Murdoch "may" have now flipped sides and is "co-operating" - nothing this big happens over night for sure ;)

[Sabrina]

Hi Sabrina many thank you's for your work here. Sabrina how many bankers arrests do you think have been made recently?


Stan


AmericanKabuki has it at 611 bankers resigning as as 22 April and 22 banker arrests as as 28 March.

This is the list on Facebook's Global Resignation page, which hasn't been updated for a bit.

https://www.facebook.com/MassResignations/app_2374336051

Truth is Stan, nobody knows the definitive number and I'll sometimes find stories buried away that aren't getting much main stream media coverage. I'm not going to keep a number tally on it or I'd go cross-eyed...

And other Avalonians in other countries will have more access to what's happening in their areas.

But they continue to happen, and some seem to be pretty sudden, and shareholders are really taking big companies to task over their pay rises and bonuses etc. Also seems that untruths won't stay unhidden - things keep coming to the surface. Also a lot of fraud coming to the surface. And mining staff resignations across the world for some reason?

I'd raise a glass at Blair and Bush's leaving parties tho'...:) and Blair can't travel freely any more for fear of arrest in various countries.

[Sabrina]

Noticeable amount of infighting and splits in governments across the world as well.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9248592/Battleplan-to-avert-Tory-war.html

6 May

Battleplan to avert Tory war

David Cameron is planning a fightback to stop his party descending into civil war with a Queen’s Speech offering help to “striving” families and moves to create jobs.

[Sabrina]

More on the US secret service story and more humiliation being put (or is it leaked) on them :).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/colombia/9248446/Colombian-prostitute-thought-Obama-bodyguards-were-fools.html
6 May

Colombian prostitute thought Obama bodyguards were 'fools'

A US Congressman is demanding that government investigators interview the prostitute at the centre of the Secret Service's Colombia sex scandal after she described the bodyguards as 'fools'.

New York Republican Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, acted after Dania Londono Suarez appeared on television to reveal her side of the story.

She said that it would have been easy for her to steal any of the documents or plans that President Barack Obama's bodyguards had with them in a hotel room on a presidential trip to Cartagena, Columbia, last month.

Miss Suarez said: "They were a bunch of fools. They are responsible for Obama's security and they still let this happen.

"I could have done a thousand other things. If I had wanted to, I could have gone through all his documents, his wallet, his suitcase."

Miss Suarez told Caracol News in Cartegena that she called the police after the Secret Service agent with whom she spent the night refused to pay her the $800 (£500) he had promised.

Let's go, bitch – I'm not going to pay you," she said that he told her before throwing her out of the room in the early morning.

A Secret Service investigation into "misconduct" has resulted in nine of the 12 agents that made up the president's advance security team to Cartegena losing their jobs. But Miss Suarez said that although she was at the heart of the scandal, she had not been interviewed by US investigators.

A visibly angry Congressman King said this weekend: "I have asked the Secret Service for an explanation of how they have failed to find this woman when the news media seems to have no trouble doing so."

Mr King said it was important that she was interviewed to ensure that the president's security was not compromised. A Secret Service source told The Sunday Telegraph that "no stone will be left unturned" and that Mr King's demands were being taken very seriously.

full story at link

[Sabrina]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/rate-swap-scandal/9248114/Banks-on-brink-of-swaps-mis-selling-investigation.html

5 May (it's all the Torygraph this morning but they've got some useful reporting)


Banks on brink of swaps 'mis-selling' investigation

British banks are facing the prospect of a major investigation by the Financial Services Authority into alleged mis-selling of billions of pounds of complex interest rate hedging products to small businesses.

Staff at the regulator last week completed their initial review of allegations that banks, including Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, systematically mis-sold interest rate derivatives to businesses.

They have ordered the lenders to provide more information ahead of a decision expected next month on whether to pursue "enforcement action" against them.

The FSA, which began its review following an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph and The Daily Telegraph, said its work already "pointed to concerns about the suitability of some of these products for SMEs and some of the sales practices involved".

"We have seen hedges that last longer than the duration of the loan they were protecting and sales incentives that incentivised sales of the more complex products," said a spokesman for the regulator.

"We have requested more information from the banks and are continuing to receive information from customers, which will enable us to determine the extent and severity of poor sales practices. We anticipate concluding this phase of work by the end of June 2012. We will consider what action is appropriate based on our findings including not hesitating to take enforcement action where appropriate."

Senior bankers were last week warned by Martin Wheatley, the head of the Financial Conduct Authority, that their banks could face a full-scale investigation unless they gave the regulator all the information it needed to conduct its review of the alleged mis-selling practices.


full story at link

[Sabrina]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/05/warren-buffett-health-berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting-2012_n_1483781.html

Warren Buffett's Health On Minds Of Investors At Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting 2012

OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett worked to reassure shareholders that he's feeling good after his recent prostate cancer diagnosis, and that Berkshire Hathaway is ready to replace the revered 81-year-old investor when the need arises.

Based on the questions Buffett got from the crowd of more than 30,000 at the company's annual meeting in Omaha on Saturday, Berkshire shareholders are taking him at his word.

Despite the fact that Buffett just disclosed the condition last month, he didn't face the first question about his health until well into Saturday's questioning. Many of the questions at the meeting either focused in on technical aspects of Berkshire's many businesses or dealt with general economic or political topics. One highlight of the discussion was the revelation that he recently attempted to make a more than $20 billion acquisition.

"I feel terrific. I love what I do," he said. Buffett told shareholders that the survival rates for prostate cancer look so good that he thinks the diagnosis is a "non-event."

It would hardly be the first time that Buffett's assessment would be trusted. Widely known as the Oracle of Omaha, Buffett, 81, is considered the greatest celebrity in investing because of his many profitable decisions. Buffett has said his four doctors caught his cancer early, and it doesn't represent a serious threat to his health. He plans to undergo radiation treatment in July, but the treatment should have little effect on his daily routine.

"I may have a little less energy, but that may mean I do fewer dumb things," Buffett said jokingly.

Still, the diagnosis is forcing shareholders to confront the fact that one day Buffett will no longer be at the helm of the conglomerate, which includes an eclectic mix of companies such as Geico insurance, MidAmerican Energy, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, Shaw carpet, Helzberg Diamonds, the Nebraska Furniture Mart and Pampered Chef. Several questions dealt with related topics, such as who will replace Buffett when the time comes.

Buffett told shareholders in this year's annual letter that the board has picked someone to succeed him as CEO if the need arises immediately, and it has two backup candidates. But Buffett hasn't publicly identified his successor. During the business portion of the meeting, Berkshire shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that would have required annual updates on how the company is preparing to replace Buffett.

and

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/9247935/Warren-Buffett-tackles-tricky-question-of-succession.html


In spite of being the world's most famous investor, Warren Buffett's investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway is barely covered by Wall Street analysts.

Goldman Sachs does not produce research or recommend whether to buy or sell Berkshire shares. The same goes for JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup.

In an era of increasing specialisation on Wall Street, banks may be deterred because the $200bn (£124bn) company Buffett has built over the past half century is not easily labelled. His empire stretches from Dairy Queen, the US chain of ice-cream parlours, to Acme Brick, America's biggest producer of bricks.

It is a lack of coverage that may help explain why Buffett's plan for who will eventually succeed him at the helm of Berkshire has drawn relatively little scrutiny. It would be a surprise, though, if it is not weighing on the minds of the 40,000 Berkshire shareholders who have descended this weekend on Omaha, Nebraska for the company's annual meeting.

"CEO succession plans are top-of-mind for Berkshire Hathaway investors," says Jay Gelb, who covers the company at Barclays.

[Sabrina]

On May 31, the annual Bilderberg conference will take place in Chantilly, Virgina. Every year the world’s elites meet to make decisions that could potentially have an affect on millions around the world. The venue where the meeting will take place will be on lockdown and decisions on an alleged global agenda will be decided behind closed doors. Alex Jones, host of the Alex Jones Show, joins us with his experience at the Bilderberg conference.




OysxKXaexoE

and

http://theintelhub.com/2012/05/04/we-want-a-room-for-the-bilderberg-conference/


theintelhub.com
May 4, 2012

Members of Occupy Bilderberg call the Westfields Marriot to request a room and a front view of the Bilderberg Group.

story at link

[Sabrina]

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/135575/second-resignation-in-five-weeks-hits-costa-rica-government.html


Second Resignation in Five Weeks Hits Costa Rica Government

SAN JOSE - Costa Rica's transport minister resigned on Friday following reports of corruption in his ministry, making him the second member of President Laura Chinchilla's Cabinet to fall victim to a scandal in barely a month.

Francisco Jimenez, minister of public works and transport, told reporters he stepped down after Chinchilla announced she had received evidence that two officials in his ministry took payments for giving preferential treatment to companies involved in the construction of a road along the San Juan River.

There was no suggestion that Jimenez was complicit in any wrongdoing, Chinchilla said.

On April 2, Costa Rican finance minister Fernando Herrero resigned after a tax evasion scandal.

Eleven out of 23 ministers in Chinchilla's Cabinet have given up their posts in the last two years. Only three of them have taken other jobs in the government.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Hardline Myanmar vice president resigns, says report
06-May-12, 2:56 PM | Reuters


YANGON - A former top general close to Myanmar's retired dictator Than Shwe has resigned as vice-president, Burmese media reported, ending the hardliner's role in the reformist government.

Tin Aung Myint Oo, 61, submitted his resignation on May 3 for health reasons after returning from Singapore for medical treatment, the Myanmar language service of Voice of America reported on Sunday.

The report could not be immediately confirmed. Tin Aung Myint Oo, a former four-star general, was one of two vice-presidents and considered a leader among hardliners in the year-old military-backed government that replaced the often-brutal junta who ruled for half a century.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20120506000090&cid=1101&MainCatID=11
6 May

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs said late Saturday that it had received and approved the resignation of Edward Chen, chairman of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower).

According to a statement issued by the ministry, the decision to approve Chen's resignation was made as part of a wider push to reform the company. Taipower's operations have recently come under heavy scrutiny and criticism after electricity rate hikes of up to 35% were announced for Taiwan in mid-April.

Asked about the reason behind Chen's resignation and if it is linked to the recent criticism, economics minister Shih Yen-shiang declined to comment.

[Sabrina]

http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2012/05/05/money/troubled-gurkha-faces-fresh-blow-as-ceo-resigns/234554.html


KATHMANDU, MAY 05 -
Chief executive officer of the crisis-ridden Gurkha Development Bank, Krishna Kumar Bhattarai, has resigned from his post following a deadlock over

negotiations on injecting additional capital in the bank. Bhattarai’s exit will make the bank’s revival process more difficult.

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has asked Gurkha to come up with a workable capital plan by mid-June, and the bank was exploring three options — issuing rights shares, one big shareholder purchasing stake of other two promoters with certain additional cash investment and a third party injecting capital. “I resigned as the ongoing negotiations on all three options could not yield positive results,” said Bhattarai.

However, the central bank, which had approved the Gurkha board’s proposal to appoint Bhattarai as CEO, said it has not been informed about his resignation. Bhattarai was appointed CEO of the troubled bank last year. He was mandated to bring reforms in Gurkha after its top management and board members faced charges as per the Banking Offense Act.
full story at link

[Sabrina]

http://eassurvey.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/vatican-likely-to-replace-irish-cardinal-with-deputy-bishop-dr-phil-mpd-show/


Vatican likely to replace Irish Cardinal Brady with new deputy bishop
Report says Cardinal Brady likely to be gone to retirement by end of year

By JOHN O’BRIEN, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

The Vatican is expected to replace Ireland’s leading church figure. Cardinal Sean Brady, and will appoint a coadjutor or deputy bishop by the end of this year who will eventually be his replacement.

The Irish Times has reported that the Vatican move will happen because of massive public pressure on Brady over his actions concerning the notorious pedophile priest Fr. Brendan Smyth.

Brady is primate of all Ireland, essentially Ireland’s leading Catholic figure, based in Armagh.

The Vatican is expected to act after a BBC documentary alleged that Brady was far more involved in a cover up of Smyth than he admitted at the time in 1987. Brady, then a young priest, served on a panel investigating Smyth. No action was taken against Smyth and he went on to abuse many more kids.

The Vatican at first defended Brady and said he had their full confidence. However, Irish leader Enda Kenny, Deputy leader Eamon Gilmore, and Northern Irish leader Martin McGuinness, have all called on Brady to resign….

Brady, 73, managed to keep his position after an earlier controversy about Smith and how he handled the case. This latest crisis, however, is seen as far more serious.

If Brady is forced to step down, it will be the 2nd major figure that Fr. Brendan Smyth has been instrumental in forcing out of office.

Former Irish leader Albert Reynolds also resigned after becoming involved in the Smyth controversy….

and


As Cardinal Sean Brady turns his back on calls to quit, pressure mounts on police to get involved
By Liam Clarke
Saturday, 5 May 2012

Pressure is growing on the PSNI to interview Cardinal Sean Brady over the most recent claims in the child sex abuse scandal.

The police didn’t act two years ago when the revelations that Dr Brady was present at the interview of two victims of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth first emerged.

[Sabrina]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/05/9-11-suspects-guantanamo-trial

9/11 suspects refuse to answer judge's questions as Guantánamo trial opens

Military judge dismisses claim trial is unfair as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, four others and their lawyers put on defiant show

The self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four other accused terrorists were ordered to stand trial at a hearing before a Guantánamo military tribunal that descended into chaos on Saturday as the defendants refused to acknowledge the judge and their lawyers repeatedly challenged the legitimacy of the court.

The accused men, one of whom was brought to the arraignment hearing strapped to a restraining chair after refusing to attend, dropped their previous insistence on pleading guilty and demanding to be executed in favour of largely sitting in silence as defence lawyers attempted to raise the issue of torture and question the independence of the judge.

None of the defendants chose to enter a plea at the hearing and reserved it for a later appearance. The judge set a tentative trial date of May 2013 although he acknowledged that there are likely to be more delays. After a 13-hour session to arraign the suspects, proceedings have been adjourned until 12 June.......

Mohammed's lawyer, David Nevin, told the court that "the world is watching" the trial after the US government admitted to waterboarding the accused terrorist 183 times. Another defence lawyer, James Connell, called the military tribunal a "blight on America's international reputation and her commitment to the rule of law"..........

The issue of torture has badly tainted the military tribunal, which is the second attempt to put the men on trial after the US supreme court blocked an earlier prosecution over protection of the accused's rights.

[Rollo]

Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy has lost the French Presidential election. In 2007 he bravely told French voters that they had no alternative but to change. He was unlucky to be hit by the global economic crisis a year later. He has also chalked up some achievements: softening the Socialists’ 35-hour week, freeing universities, raising the retirement age. Yet Mr Sarkozy’s policies have proved as unpredictable and unreliable as the man himself. We'll see how that plays out.

[Sabrina]

Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy has lost the French Presidential election. In 2007 he bravely told French voters that they had no alternative but to change. He was unlucky to be hit by the global economic crisis a year later. He has also chalked up some achievements: softening the Socialists’ 35-hour week, freeing universities, raising the retirement age. Yet Mr Sarkozy’s policies have proved as unpredictable and unreliable as the man himself. We'll see how that plays out.


Thanks Rollo,


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17975660


Found this bit interesting:

French socialist Francois Hollande has won a clear victory in the country's presidential election.

Mr Hollande - who got an estimated 52% of votes in Sunday's run-off - said the French had chosen "change".

Admitting defeat, centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy wished "good luck" to Mr Hollande.

Analysts say the vote has wide implications for the whole eurozone. Mr Hollande has vowed to rework a deal on government debt in member countries......

He said he would push ahead with his pledge to refocus EU fiscal efforts from austerity to "growth".

"Europe is watching us, austerity can no longer be the only option," he said.

Mr Hollande has called for a renegotiation of a hard-won European treaty on budget discipline championed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mr Sarkozy.

[Sabrina]

Big changes in both French and Greek politics - as a backlash to the austerity measures.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17975370
6 May

Greek main parties 'suffer big losses' at polls

Syriza supporters are celebrating major gains across Greece that could put them in second place

With half the votes counted, centre-right New Democracy is in the lead with 20%, down from 33.5% in 2009.

Centre-left Pasok is in third place with 13.8%, down from 43.9% in the last elections. Left-wing coalition Syriza is in second place with 16.06%.

Pasok and New Democracy, in coalition since last November, were expected to lose support to anti-austerity parties.

There is widespread anger across Greece to harsh measures imposed by the government in return for international bailouts.

Syriza opposes the government's austerity measures.

The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party could enter parliament for the first time if the exit poll prediction of it winning 6.5% -7.5% of the vote comes to fruition.


Mark Lowen
BBC News, Athens
As a long day of voting ended, the exit polls suggested what many expected - a huge move away from the two big pro-austerity parties that have long dominated Greek politics.

It is possible that the poll does not reflect the final results. But if accurate, it would echo the views of many here.

This could spell intense instability for Greece. New Democracy may be unable to form a government, there may be calls for a fresh election and possibly even anti-bailout parties from the left and right may attempt to form a coalition.

That could threaten Greece's austerity path and raise fresh questions over its membership of the euro. Another deeply uncertain chapter in the Greek drama might now begin, sending shockwaves throughout the eurozone.

[Sabrina]

And elections for Israel as well.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17975315

Netanyahu calls for early general election in Israel


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for an early general election in four months' time.

The vote is expected to take place in September, a year before he is required by law to seek a new mandate.

Mr Netanyahu leads a centre-right coalition which includes his own Likud and ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu.

Mr Netanyahu has been prime minister since 2009. Opinion polls suggest that he is by some distance the most popular politician in Israel. (??)

[Sabrina]

http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/notitas-de-noticias/details/mexico-born-walmart-employee-calls-for-resignation-of-two-top-execs/15602/

A Mexican-born employee of Wal-Mart in the United States is leading a petition drive to force the resignations of two top executives of the retail giant, which is accused of bribing authorities in her homeland
.
“I’m a Mexican who knows how to fight and I’m never going to let anyone trample on me no matter how rich and powerful they are. I can be poor, but I can also be powerful by speaking and saying ‘that’s enough,’” Venani Luna said Thursday in an interview with Efe.

Born in Tijuana 32 years ago, Luna moved to the United States barely a year ago but she has worked for Wal-Mart in South Gate, California, for the past seven years, where she now is a department manager.

Last week, when the alleged bribery committed by Wal-Mart to secure permits to open new stores in Mexico came to light, Luna felt “so much anger” that she posted on the Web page Change.org a letter demanding the resignation of both the CEO and chairman of the world’s largest retailer.

In just a week, the letter/petition had gathered more than 7,500 signatures and is heading steadily for 10,000, the target that she set to personally take the resignation request to the shareholders meeting Wal-Mart will hold next month.

“I’m seeking justice because we all have to follow the laws, whether you’re in California or in Mexico or in any other country, but just because you’re rich, famous or have power doesn’t mean you can do what you want,” said Luna, defending her resignation demand directed at CEO Mike Duke and Chairman Robson Walton, the son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton.

The scandal in which the company has become enmeshed erupted on April 21, when The New York Times published a lengthy article in which is said that the giant retailer had known about complaints of “widespread bribery” supposedly exceeding $24 million in Mexico since 2005 but that the practice was covered up by top company executives.

“It makes me sad because they could have invested all those millions they spent in the company, in helping the employees and - for example - not cutting medical insurance,” Luna told Efe.

[Sabrina]

A big one this I think.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/04/business/hong-kong-kwok-arrest/index.html?hpt=ibu_c2

Eldest Kwok brother arrested by HK watchdog


(Financial Times) -- Sun Hung Kai Properties, Hong Kong's largest property developer, said on Friday that its former chairman Walter Kwok had been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation of the company by the city's anti-corruption agency.

It follows the arrests on March 29 of his two younger brothers, Raymond and Thomas, who are joint chairmen of the group. Like his brothers, Mr Kwok has been released on bail.

Rafael Hui, Hong Kong's former chief secretary, also was arrested in March, the highest-level arrest of a civil servant in the history of the city's Independent Commission Against Corruption. None of the four men has been formally charged.

The corruption investigation comes at a time of unprecedented public anger at the city's large developers because over the past couple of years a limited supply of new land for development, combined with wealthy investors from the mainland, have driven property prices to levels that are unaffordable for middle class buyers.

On Wednesday, in an interview with Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, Walter Kwok had sought to place the blame for the company's relationship with Mr Hui squarely on his brothers' shoulders. Mr Kwok told the newspaper: "[Mr Hui] was employed by my two brothers and he worked for my two brothers. I really have no idea what he was doing."

Mr Kwok also suggested a reopening of the battle for control of the group, claiming that he had legal documents showing he still holds a one-third stake in the company.

The Kwok family engaged in a bitter scuffle a couple of years ago over the trust that controls the HK$245bn ($32bn) Sun Hung Kai empire, with the younger two brothers removing Walter Kwok as a beneficiary of the trust.

In a statement on Friday, Sun Hung Kai said that the arrest "has not affected and will not affect the normal business and operations of the group".

Shares of the group, which were suspended Friday, were down 0.9 per cent in the afternoon after trading resumed.

[Alie]

A big one this I think.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/04/business/hong-kong-kwok-arrest/index.html?hpt=ibu_c2

Eldest Kwok brother arrested by HK watchdog



(Financial Times) -- Sun Hung Kai Properties, Hong Kong's largest property developer, said on Friday that its former chairman Walter Kwok had been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation of the company by the city's anti-corruption agency.

It follows the arrests on March 29 of his two younger brothers, Raymond and Thomas, who are joint chairmen of the group. Like his brothers, Mr Kwok has been released on bail.

Rafael Hui, Hong Kong's former chief secretary, also was arrested in March, the highest-level arrest of a civil servant in the history of the city's Independent Commission Against Corruption. None of the four men has been formally charged.

The corruption investigation comes at a time of unprecedented public anger at the city's large developers because over the past couple of years a limited supply of new land for development, combined with wealthy investors from the mainland, have driven property prices to levels that are unaffordable for middle class buyers.

On Wednesday, in an interview with Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, Walter Kwok had sought to place the blame for the company's relationship with Mr Hui squarely on his brothers' shoulders. Mr Kwok told the newspaper: "[Mr Hui] was employed by my two brothers and he worked for my two brothers. I really have no idea what he was doing."

Mr Kwok also suggested a reopening of the battle for control of the group, claiming that he had legal documents showing he still holds a one-third stake in the company.

The Kwok family engaged in a bitter scuffle a couple of years ago over the trust that controls the HK$245bn ($32bn) Sun Hung Kai empire, with the younger two brothers removing Walter Kwok as a beneficiary of the trust.

In a statement on Friday, Sun Hung Kai said that the arrest "has not affected and will not affect the normal business and operations of the group".

Shares of the group, which were suspended Friday, were down 0.9 per cent in the afternoon after trading resumed.


Yes, I believe these Kwoks are the real deal in Hong Kong

[Sabrina]

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-18-02/official-bankster-dictionary-0

The Official Bankster Dictionary
Submitted by smartknowledgeu


In the shady underground world of banking, doing wrong means doing right, up is down, and left is right. I often struggle to understand why so many people employed by the banking industry have so much difficulty reaching the same conclusion as the Economic Policy Journal’s Robert Wenzel that people employed by this modern day Slave Master called the global banking system should abandon their employers never to come back as “the moral and ethical thing to do” until the banking industry can change the system from an immoral system of theft to a moral system of honesty. One of these reasons undoubtedly is due to the lies that the global banking cartel run by the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers have disseminated through the global and media academic system. Their propaganda has been so strong that with financial language, they literally have turned meanings upside down. So to help people understand financial language more clearly, with acknowledgement to WilliamBanzai7 for creating the first three chapters of the Offical Bankster Dictionary, below please find the macro installment of “The Official Bankster Dictionary” to help you understand what really is going on in the world of banking today.

I recently just returned from a week-long business trip to China, and in discussing the propaganda and hypocrisy of bankers with people I encountered during my trip, one thing was very clear. Chinese people consider themselves to be more knowledgeable about the monetary system than Westerners. They informed me that everyone in China knows that government produced economic statistics are a lie and that no one takes what bankers say in the media to heart. However, many people in China told me that it’s a farce that Western bankers tell lies to the world and expect the rest of the world to be foolish enough to believe their lies.

Perhaps this is why even university Chinese students laughed in Tim Geithner’s face when Geithner visited them in 2009 and told them that the Federal Reserve had a “strong dollar policy”. As people in China told me, “At least when bankers lie to us here, everyone knows that they’re lying. No one believes these lies to be the truth. In the US, you guys actually believe that the lying bankers are telling you the truth.”

US Federal Reserve = European controlled private bank.

Central Bank = Counterfeiting Ring Leader

Nobel Prize Winning Economists = Banking Shill Propaganda Puppets, by and large, awarded with Ivy League tenure, that a 3rd-grader well schooled in monetary truths can generally discredit.

Criminal Underworld Currency Counterfeiters = Competitors that must be arrested and jailed.

Savings Account = Devaluation Account, Cash Advance for Gambling Division

Gambling = Banking Primary Business Line

Fraud = Banking Secondary Business Line

Las Vegas, Macau, Atlantic City = Model for running business operations.

Inflation = Currency Devaluation through anti-free market manipulation of interest rates.

Fractional Reserve System = Fractional Expansion Citizen Bankruptcy System, BSE (Biggest Scam Ever)

Futures Markets = Manipulation Casino, SkyNet Three-Card Monte Scam

Pablo Escobar, Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, The Ochoa Hermanos, Yakuza = Cash Cows

El Subcomandante Marcos aka Delegado Zero = Anti-poverty activist that must be wacked and shut up

Independent Media = Terrorist

Mass Media = Allies

Allen Stanford, Bernie Madoff = Occasional Patsies and Necessary Fall Guys to appease the public’s ire at us.

Stock Markets = Manipulation Casino, SkyNet Three-Card Monte Scam

Commercial Investment Firm Rating of “Buy” and Hold” = Contrarian Indicator to SELL!

Commercial Investment Firm Rating of “Sell” = Contrarian Indicator to “BUY!”

Barbarous Relic = USD, Euro, Yen

Beta = Empty Statistic meant to impress naïve investors

Insider Trading = Mechanism we can utilize to build wealth and remain immune from proesecution but for which we will send common peasants to jail.

Diplomatic Immunity = Not a United Nations privilege but a privilege given to all of us to commit as much fraud and crime as possible without the slightest hint of ever being sent to jail.

Loan = Usury

Credit Card = Debt accumulation card

USD, Euro, Yen, etc. = Fantasy Digital Idea made real by banksters to control humanity

Women’s Liberation Movement = Expansion of Tax Base from only men to men AND women

Income Taxes = Wealth Transfer from citizens to owners of central banks.

Gold = Bankster Kryptonite

Silver = Bankster Kryptonite

Truth = Banker Kyrptonite

Rising Gold & Silver Prices = Hated situation that makes it difficult to manipulate asset prices and that must therefore be controlled.

Lies & Deception = Bankster Standard M.O.

Free Markets = Fairytale story like Santa Claus, Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy to be taught in business schools worldwide.

Drug Lords and Underground Crime Syndicates = Provider of global banking liquidity and huge year-end bonuses

Parasite = Favorite insect

Capitalism = Dead system that was killed by Central Banking but false scapegoat we can blame when we cause economic crashes and despair

Miscellaneous Charges = Small Monthly Charges to siphon off money from bank accounts that customers will never notice or complain about

Computer = Vehicle to rig all stock markets and commodity markets with HFT programs that execute trades not possible if executed by humans and if executed in a clear and transparent market.

Boom = Unsustainable price distortions caused by interest-rate manipulation and market rigging.

Bust = Opportunity to make money twice as quickly as in a boom!

Market Crash = Engineered event to ensure the peasants will never accumulate enough wealth to rebel against us.

Rising Markets on Mondays or Tuesdays into OpEx Fridays: Ruse to sucker more people to go long in order to fleece them by the time Friday arrives.

Declining Markets on Mondays or Tuesdays into OpEx Fridays: Ruse to sucker more people to go short in order to fleece them by the time Friday arrives.

Presidents and PMs = Best puppet and marionette allies to be rewarded handsomely after they leave office (see Tony Blair and the current POTUS)

Superior Judges, SCOTUS = Made Men

War = Double Bonus! Opportunity to devalue money at faster rate than during peace time and opportunity to accumulate more wealth from interest charged on war appropriations.

Universities, Colleges and MBA programs = Re-education camps to indoctrinate students into fairytales of non-existent free markets, non-existent capitalism, and lies about how stock markets, real estate markets and economic cycles really work. Alternative meaning = best mechanism to bury young adults in a mountain of debt before their work life even begins so we can control them.

Economic Journals and University Tenure = Carrot dangled in front of economic professors to ensure that they repeat to the world the “official” party line.

Key Economic Indicators = False manipulated statistics designed to dumb down citizens into believing economy is recovering even as we increase their economic suffering

Ben Bernarnke = Shakespearean clown.

Conspiracy = Best Word to Discredit Truth about the global monetary system when the truth somehow escapes our censorship algorithms and makes it to the mainstream media we control.

Machiavelli = Role Model

Ivy League Schools = Indoctrination Camps for media representatives and professors we will send to brainwash other global regions into believing our propaganda

CNBC = The Cartoon Network.

Goldman Sachs = Rookie Farm Camp for global criminal banking syndicate.

World Bank & IMF = Banks used by Western countries to impose crushing debt on developing nations to stunt their growth.

Bailout = Transfer of Wealth from citizens to us.

TBTF = Lie used to ensure we can perpetuate fraud and to pass legislation that would never pass under normal circumstances unless we use the TBTF threat.

Quantitative Easing = Currency Devaluation.

Fiat Currency = Worst Possible Idea

Propaganda = Daily Financial News Feed

ATM Machine = Only banking invention in the last century that has improved peoples' lives instead of making them worse.

Debt Forgiveness = PsyOps Term that makes it appear we are being benificient towards humanity when in reality, the amount of debt forgiveness probably could not equal the amount of money we have stolen from humanity through inflation, currency devaluation, income taxes, and other unjust taxes meant to transfer wealth to us.

Compartamentalization = Process to keep good people working as cogs in the machine within the banking industry ignorant of the fact that they are inflicting massive harm upon society.

Sound Money = Bankster Extinction Level Event. End of modern day immoral banking thievery system and event that would necessitate bankers having to find real jobs to earn wealth instead of merely building wealth by transferring wealth from everyone else to themselves. Also known as physical gold, physical silver, and the medium that allows citizens to call the banksters’ bluff in their monetary devaluation scheme and that allows citizens to fight back against corrupt banksters.

[Sabrina]

Pike resigns from Parliament
7 May Australia

Former state Labor government minister Bronwyn Pike has resigned from State Parliament.
Ms Pike was elected in 1999 and served as minister for health and education in the Bracks and Brumby governments.

She went on to become the longest serving female minister in the parliament's history.
Ms Pike says she enjoyed her time but wants to step aside for the next generation of Labor leaders.
"So it has been a wonderful privilege and I hope that I have been able to leave a legacy for the people of Melbourne and of course for the people of Victoria," she said.

Ms Pike says she is not sure what she will do next but believes it is the right time to leave.


and

Updated May 07, 2012 Australia

The Speaker of the Victorian Parliament will be questioned about his taxpayer-funded overseas trips.

The Public Accounts and Estimates Committee will ask why Ken Smith has not publicly declared a number of international trips.

[Sabrina]

http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/borrell-forced-to-resign-over-energy-interests/74199.aspx


Former Parliament president quits as as president of the European University Institute.

Josep Borrell, a former president of the European Parliament and an ex-minister in Spanish socialist governments, has been forced to resign as president of the European University Institute (EUI) in the face of allegations of a conflict of interest.

Borrell is being paid €300,000 a year as a board member of the Spanish sustainable-energy company Abengoa, a post he has held since July 2009, when he left the European Parliament. The EUI apparently only became aware of this in recent weeks, after comments in the Spanish press.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/7068-vice-president-tin-aung-myint-oo-resigns.html

7 May


(Mizzima) – Burmese Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo, known as a strong hardliner, has submitted his resignation for health reasons, according to media reports.

A retired four-star general, Tin Aung Myint Oo, 61, has not appeared in public recently.

The report has not been confirmed by official sources.......

Burma watchers say Tin Aung Myint Oo was considered to be one of the most corrupt of the ex-generals serving in the current administration.

[Sabrina]

http://americankabuki.blogspot.co.uk/
more on this

PRESS RELEASE
April 23, 2012, 12:01 a.m. EDT
USA
Home Owners Across the Nation Sue All Bank Servicers and Their Offshore Havens; Spire Law Officially Announces Filing of Landmark Lawsuit

Largest International Money Laundering Network in History Formed During Obama Administration; U.S. Banks' Theft of Home Owners' Money Laundered Through Cayman Islands, Isle of Man and Numerous Offshore-Based Affiliates


NEW YORK, NY, Apr 23, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- In a lawsuit alleged to involve the largest money laundering network in United States history, Spire Law Group, LLP -- on behalf of home owners across the Country -- has filed a mass tort action in the Supreme Court of New York, County of Kings. Home owners across the country have sued every major bank servicer and their subsidiaries -- formed in countries known as havens for money laundering such as the Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man, Luxembourg and Malaysia -- alleging that while the Obama Administration was publicly encouraging loan modifications for home owners, it was privately ratifying the formation of these shell companies in violation of the United States Patriot Act, and State and Federal law. The case further alleges that through these obscure foreign companies, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo Bank, Citibank, Citigroup, One West Bank, and numerous other federally chartered banks stole hundreds of millions of dollars of home owners' money during the last decade and then laundered it through offshore companies. The complaint, Index No. 500827, was filed by Spire Law Group, LLP, and several of the Firm's affiliates and partners across the United States.
Far from being ambiguous, this is a complaint that "names names." Indeed, the lawsuit identifies specific companies and the offshore countries used in this enormous money laundering scheme. Federally Chartered Banks' theft of money and their utilization of offshore tax haven subsidiaries represent potential FDIC violations, violations of New York law, and countless other legal wrongdoings under state and federal law.
"The laundering of trillions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money -- and the wrongful taking of the homes of those taxpayers -- was known by the Administration and expressly supported by it. Evidence uncovered by the plaintiffs revealed that the Administration ignored its own agencies' reports -- and reports from the Department of Homeland Security -- about this situation, dating as far back as 2010. Worse, the Administration purported to endorse a 'national bank settlement' without disclosing or having any public discourse whatsoever about the thousands of foreign tax havens now wholly owned by our nation's banks. Fortunately, no home owner is bound to enter into this fraudulent bank settlement," stated Eric J. Wittenberg of Columbus, Ohio -- a noted trial lawyer, author and student of US history -- on behalf of plaintiffs in the case.

The suing home owners reveal how deeply they were defrauded by bank and governmental corruption -- and are suing for conversion, larceny, fraud, and for violations of other provisions of New York state law committed by these financial institutions and their offshore counterparts.

This lawsuit explains why loans were, in general, rarely modified after 2009. It explains why the entire bank crisis worsened, crippling the economy of the United States and stripping countless home owners of their piece of the American dream. It is indeed a fact that the Administration has spent far more money stopping bank investigations, than they have investigating them. When the Administration's agencies (like the FDIC) blew the whistle, their reports were ignored.

The case is styled Abeel v. Bank of America, etc., et al. -- and includes such entities as ML Banderia Cayman BRL Inc., ML Whitby Luxembourg S.A.R.L. and J.P Morgan Asset Management Luxembourg S.A. -- as well as hundreds of other obscure offshore entities somehow "owned" by federally chartered banks and formed "under the nose" of the Administration and the FDIC.

Commenting further on the case, Mr. Wittenberg stated: "As if it is not bad enough that banks collect money and do not credit it to homeowners' accounts, and as if it is not bad enough that those banks then foreclose when they know they do not have a legally enforceable interest in the realty, we now learn that they have been operating under unbridled free reign given by the Administration and some states' Attorneys General in formulating this international money laundering network. Now that the light of day has been shined on it, I believe we can all rest assured that the beginning of the end of the bank crisis has arrived."

All United States home owners may have the right to bring a lawsuit of this kind if they paid money to a national bank servicer during the years 2003 through 2009.

One lawyer impacted by the corruption -- Mitchell J. Stein, who formerly represented the FDIC, the RTC and the FSLIC during the Savings and Loan scandal of the 1990s, and who predicted all of the foregoing in open court two years ago -- commented: "Two years ago, I remarked in open court to a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, as well as to legislators including Senator Dianne Feinstein's office during a multitude of in-person meetings, that the ongoing violations of the Patriot Act by these financial institutions was outrageous and a breach of the public trust of unprecedented proportions," said Stein.

"The size and scope of this misconduct -- stretching to far-away islands never before having standing as approved United States Bank affiliates -- is remarkable and emblematic of what we have seen," he continued. "The bank crisis represents the height of corruption and brazen behavior where our historically trusted financial institutions have no qualms about breaking the law, because they have the Administration behind them. Banks do well enough when they operate lawfully without needing to be permitted to operate as criminal enterprises that steal money from United States citizens."

Additional plaintiffs' counsel Nicholas M. Moccia commented: "Having been in the trenches of the bank crisis for years, I always knew that the misconduct was being conducted by a network. When I started litigating against banks, however, I could have never imagined that it would be this extensive. I look forward to taking discovery of these thousands of obscure foreign entities and to obtaining for homeowners their constitutionally entitled injuries for this international ring of theft and deception."

Comments were requested from the Attorney Generals' offices in NY, CA, NV, and MA and the White House, but no comment was provided.
About Spire Law Group
Spire Law Group, LLP is a national law firm whose motto is "the public should be protected -- at all costs -- from corruption in whatever form it presents itself." The Firm is comprised of lawyers nationally with more than 250-years of experience in a span of matters ranging from representing large corporations and wealthy individuals, to also representing the masses. The Firm is at the front lines litigating against government officials, banks, defunct loan pools, and now the very offshore entities where the corruption was enabled and perpetrated.

Contact:
James N. Fiedler, Esq.
Managing Partner
Spire Law Group, LLP
877-475-2448
Email Contact





SOURCE: Spire Law Group, LLP

[Sabrina]

Suu Kyi Takes Seat in Burmese Parliament

VOICE OF AMERICA

Burma's long-time democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has officially been sworn in as a member of parliament, taking public office for the first time after spending much of the past two decades under house arrest.


The Nobel laureate took the oath of office Wednesday to enter Burma's lower legislative house, ending a parliamentary boycott that had threatened to interrupt the country's political reform process.

For more than a week, the 66-year-old opposition leader and her National League for Democracy had refused to take the oath because it required them to “safeguard” the constitution, which was drafted by Burma's former military rulers.

But the NLD earlier this week agreed to take the pledge, while vowing to push for constitutional change through legislative action.

Aung San Suu Kyi said after taking the oath that she has no qualms about sitting next to Burmese military members, who still make up the bulk of the country's parliament. But she said she would like to see the country's legislative bodies become more democratic.

(story no. 881 of this thread see resignation of one of the old guard from the parliament)

[Sabrina]

http://kauilapele.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/mass-arrests-new-information-with-bill-wood-and-eva-moore-5-6-12-mp3s/#more-11031

Mass Arrests – New information with Bill Wood and Eva Moore 5-6-12… MP3s
Posted on May 6, 2012


Haven't listened to this yet, but Kauilapele has broken down the interview into manageable mp3 chunks - good while ironing, or chewing the cud, or flitting from 3D or 5D, or watching the prairie from the back porch or smaller back garden version if in Kent, England, or building a fire if you're a fire raiser :)

Christian's thread on this:
http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?44771-Bill-Brockbrader-s-take-on-mass-arrests&p=483478#post483478

Who knows eh... Keep Calm And Carry On people :)..

[Sabrina]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/06/greece-elections-2012-nik_n_1490883.html
6 May Greece

Greece Elections 2012: Nikolaos Michaloliakos, Extreme Right Leader, Warns Greek 'Traitors'


ATHENS, Greece -- The leader of an extreme-right, anti-immigrant party on course for shock success in Greece's general elections Sunday lashed out at those he described as "traitors" responsible for the country's financial crisis and said his party was ushering in a "revolution."

The far-right Golden Dawn party is set to win 7 percent of the parliamentary vote, according to early projections, as Greeks punished the traditionally dominant parties who backed harsh austerity measures tied to debt-relief agreements.

Parties must exceed a 3-percent threshold of the vote to be represented in Greece's parliament. In the last general election in 2009, Golden Dawn received merely 0.29 percent. It has seen its support jump as a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment has spread in financially devastated Greece.

Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos told The Associated Press in an interview that his party had delivered a blow against the country's corrupt leadership.

"They slandered us, slung mud at us, and shut us out of all the news media – the TV channels of the corrupt elite – and we beat them," the 55-year-old leader said as the votes came in. "The day of national revolution by the Greeks has begun against those who are selling us out and looting the sweat of the Greek people."

Golden Dawn campaigned hard against illegal immigration, and its supporters have been blamed for a recent spike in inner-city street attacks against mostly Asian immigrants.



An extreme party - but there's talk of a left/right coalition to work on the whole financial crisis and austerity measures imposed on the Greeks. Sab.

and Huff post today:


A VOTE FOR UNCERTAINTY?


Eurozone Faces Fresh Turmoil After Greek And French Elections See Stocks Fall

Traders have warned of more market turbulence after elections in Greece and France fuelled uncertainty over Europe's ability to solve its debt crisis.

Germany's Dax and France's Cac-40 were more than 1% lower and the main stock exchange in Athens slumped 8% on Monday as markets worried that Greece's failure to form a government has placed further doubt over the country's rescue, increasing speculation over the eventual break-up of the single currency.

The election of socialist Francois Hollande as France's new president was widely expected but will add to growing expectations of a backlash against Europe's current austerity drive led by German chancellor Angela Merkel.

London markets were shut today but could resume on the back foot after slumping 2% on Friday on fears the US recovery is running out of steam.

Analysts fear the result of the Greek elections, with no party winning enough votes to form a government, has left the country in political limbo, preventing much needed reforms.

Anita Paluch, a trader at Gekko Global Markets, said: "Having rejected the austerity, the country finds itself in a spot from where it may be difficult to meet its obligations and this is what is spooking the markets at the moment - the possibility of a disorderly default of a member state."

Ms Merkel also suffered a setback yesterday in a regional election in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.

Manuel Maleki, an analyst at ING Bank, said a new equilibrium will have to be found in Europe.

He added: "While the markets could initially worry about tensions between Germany and France, the possibility of a revision of the current recession-austerity mix in Europe is not necessarily a bad thing for the longer term stabilising the eurozone."

As well as the fresh European uncertainty, markets are worried over the state of the world's largest economy after figures on Friday showed US jobs growth slumped in April for a second month in a row.

The developments also add to pressure on the Bank of England as it meets to decide whether to offer more emergency support for the UK economy this week.

Experts are divided over whether the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee will increase its £325 billion quantitative easing stock, after injecting £50 billion in February. Interest rates will be kept at a record low of 0.5%.

[Sabrina]

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/05/this-is-the-first-time-in-history-that-all-central-banks-have-printed-money-at-the-same-time-and-its-failing-miserably.html

This Is the First Time In History that All Central Banks Have Printed Money at the Same Time … And They’re Failing Miserably
Posted on May 1, 2012 by WashingtonsBlog
Simultaneous Global Printing Is Failing Miserably

Mainstream Keynesian economists argue that the failure of the European austerity measures to pull Europe out of the doldrums proves that more stimulus is needed, and that austerity is poison at this stage.

Indeed, most mainstream economists pretend that debt doesn’t exist … or believe that debt for its own sake is good and necessary.

But Martin Weiss noted last month:

Four of the world’s largest central banks have gone absolutely berserk, running the money printing presses like never before in history:


The Bank of Japan (BOJ) had already been printing money like crazy ever since their bubble economy burst in the early 1990s.

So when the debt crisis struck in 2008, the size of their balance sheet assets, which measure the cumulative total of a central bank’s money printing operations, was already the biggest in the world: About 20% of their economy.

Then, when the shock waves of the Lehman Brothers collapse struck Japan, what did they do?

They stepped up their money printing operations EVEN further — to about 30% of GDP. (See yellow line in chart above.)

Other than Brazil in the 1970s or Germany in the 1920s, no other major nation — or group of nations — on the planet had ever gone that far! (Until, that is, Europe, which I’ll get to in a moment.)

Meanwhile …

At the U.S. Federal Reserve, no Fed Chairman in history — not even notorious easy-money advocates like Arthur Burns or Allen Greenspan — had EVER run the money printing presses for any extended period of time.

But Fed Chairman Bernanke changed all that. Soon after the debt crisis hit in 2008, he nearly TRIPLED the size of the Fed’s balance sheet from about 6% of GDP to almost 17% of GDP.

And in the years since, he has pumped it up even further to about 20% of GDP! (Red line in chart.)

The Bank of England (BOE) has mostly been expanding its balance sheet in lock step with the Fed (green line).

But in the global race to print money, it’s the European Central Bank (ECB) which has been leading the pack in the past year or so, suddenly expanding their balance sheet from about 20% of GDP to close to 30% GDP (blue line).

This is absolutely massive!

Heck, in the 1990s and 2000s, just the money-printing operations by ONE central bank (the Bank of Japan) changed the world:

Global investors borrowed abundant amounts of cheap money in Japan and poured it into risky investments around the world, helping to create some of the largest bubbles — and busts — in history.

Now, imagine FOUR central banks doing the same thing at the same time!

Indeed, China and India have been printing as well, as shown by the last 2 of these 2011 charts:


full story at the link and also lots of lovely graphs....

[Sabrina]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/07/spanish-resignation-government-rescue-bankia

7 May Spain

Resignation seen as proof Spanish government set to rescue ailing Bankia
Bankia's Rodrigo Rato steps down hours after prime minster Mariano Rajoy announced shake-up of troubled Spanish banks


One of Spain's most high-profile financiers, Rodrigo Rato, has resigned as head of Bankia just hours after prime minister Mariano Rajoy announced a major shake-up of the troubled banking sector.

Rato's surprise departure on Monday was seen as proof that ailing Bankia, which holds 10% of the country's deposits, was about to be rescued by the Spanish government.

Bankia now looks likely be the centrepiece of a fresh round of financial-sector reforms as Rajoy tries to boost confidence in a country that lies at the heart of the eurozone crisis.

Rajoy looked ready to backtrack on pledges not to use more public money on banks. "The last thing I would do would be to inject or lend public money, but if it is necessary I would not hesitate to do it, just as other European countries have done," Rajoy told a radio interviewer.

He was speaking as the financial markets attempted to digest the implications of the election of the Socialist François Hollande as president in France and the outcome of the Greek elections, where the formation of a government looked unlikely.

Rajoy said details of the shake-up in Spain would come after Friday's cabinet meeting, but there were rumours that a Bankia announcement would come sooner.

Bankia is at the centre of worries about the impact on Spanish banks of toxic real estate assets left over from a residential housing bubble that burst in 2008.

It is reported to need up to €10bn, which could come via Spain's own bank restructuring fund.

Bankia is reportedly going to borrow at 8% interest through a form of debt known as contingent capital, which turns into equity in times of stress – effectively becoming a part-nationalisation.

Rato had consistently maintained Bankia could continue as an independent bank and had no solvency or liquidity problems.

The creation of a "bad bank" for toxic real estate assets is another option being explored by the government, though Rajoy said on Monday that he did not like the idea.

There have also been rumours that the European Financial Stability Facility rescue fund could be used to prop up Spain's more troubled banks – which do not include the biggest two, Santander and BBVA.

Spanish banks escaped the subprime crisis after the central bank banned them from getting involved in riskier derivatives.

But they have largely rolled over the huge loans they themselves handed out to Spanish speculators, developers and construction companies in the boom years before 2008.

With land values plummeting and house prices also dropping dramatically, many developers have gone bust and banks have been caught out.
full story at link

[Sabrina]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17987271

8 May UK

Aviva boss Andrew Moss to step down


Insurance firm Aviva has announced that chief executive Andrew Moss will be leaving with immediate effect.

The move comes after the firm suffered the embarrassment of losing a shareholder vote on executive pay at its annual meeting last week.

Mr Moss had already turned down an annual salary increase following concerns among shareholders about pay levels at the insurer.

Chairman designate John McFarlane has been asked to be interim replacement.


and 3 May BBC story:

Insurance firm Aviva has lost the vote on executive pay at its annual meeting.

Excluding abstentions, 54% voted against the remuneration report at its annual general meeting (AGM), in what will be seen as a major embarrassment for the company.

Shareholders are angry about the amount the new UK chief executive, Trevor Matthews, was paid when he joined.

Outgoing chairman Colin Sharman apologised to investors at the meeting for ignoring their views.

[Sabrina]

Changes away across Europe:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17986065
8 May


Greek election: Far-left seeks anti-austerity coalition

Alexis Tsipras says his cabinet would reject "barbaric" austerity measures

The leader of Greece's far-left is to try to form a government after parties backing an international bailout deal failed to assemble a coalition.

Alexis Tsipras aims to put together a cabinet that will reject austerity measures imposed as part of the deal.

But analysts also say his attempts, following Sunday's poll, are likely to fail to achieve the necessary numbers.

Voters in Greece, France and Italy have all largely swung in favour of anti-austerity candidates this week.

In Greece, both the centre-right New Democracy and former coalition partners Pasok, the traditional parties of power, saw their support drain away in favour of radical parties on the left and right.

France's President-elect, Socialist Francois Hollande, said in his victory speech that he would seek an alternative to austerity.

And partial results from local elections in Italy suggest a marked swing away from mainstream parties. An anti-euro protest movement led by comedian Beppe Grillo made significant inroads in Parma and Genoa.

Reacting to the election results, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said austerity measures were "not negotiable" and described Greece's reforms as of "utmost importance".

Markets slumped following the election results in France and Greece, but largely recovered later. The Athens stock exchange, however, had plunged 6.67% by the end of Monday.

In return for two EU/IMF bailouts worth a total of 240bn euros (£190bn; $310), Greece agreed to make deep cuts to pensions and pay, raise taxes and slash thousands of public sector jobs.

full story at link

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17986071

8 May Israel

Israeli PM Netanyahu strikes surprise coalition deal


Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has struck a deal to form a new coalition cabinet, avoiding snap elections he sought earlier, officials say.

They say that - in a surprise move - Mr Netanyahu's Likud party will be joined by the opposition Kadima party.

The move came as the parliament, or Knesset, debated its dissolution ahead of polls the PM planned for September.

full story at link

[Sabrina]

BIG EVENTS TO LOOK OUT FOR THIS MONTH

Bill Woods/Brockbrader mentions looking out for the big events happening this month with world leaders.

NATO 25th Summit - Chicago - 20/21 May

(Chicago is Obama's choice)

http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-6810455A-4A7E4D75/natolive/news_86891.htm


38th G8 Summit - Camp David, Maryland - 18/19 May

(Wikipedia: The 38th G8 summit is to be held in Camp David, Maryland, United States on May 18-19, 2012. It will occur alongside the NATO summit, likely generating an unusual amount of attention—positive and negative.The location of the summit was previously scheduled for the McCormick Place in Chicago, which will remain as the host city of the 2012 NATO summit beginning on May 20th).

Bildeberg Conference - Chantilly, Virginia - 31 May

G20 Summit - Mexico - 18/19 June




(ho ho)
Searching for Strategies to Restore Global Economic Stability and Growth
External event on 2nd May 2012
Location: Chicago

The G8 Summit that will take place in the United States May 19-20, 2012 will likely exhibit the same urgency that has attended other recent G8 and G20 meetings. Slow growth, high unemployment, foreign debt concerns, financial disarray, and mounting social unrest mean that the global economy will once again take center stage at the upcoming G8 meeting. Although a global depression may have been averted, recession in Europe and a further global slowdown are likely. Recovery remains uncertain and protracted at best. The situation has left leaders groping for a “desperate optimism,” as Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, recently described it. Leaders of developed economies, struggling with their own high levels of sovereign debt, are unlikely to generate new approaches to current problems without the help of others. Emerging economies like China and Brazil - which have remained relatively immune to the ongoing crisis and may hold the key to a more stable future - are themselves put at risk by adverse conditions and are not yet in a position to drive solutions.

The 2012 G8 Summit, along with Mexico City’s G20 Summit that will follow only weeks later in June 2012, are poised to serve as a crucial juncture in the unfolding global economic crisis, one that either begins to chart a new path toward stability, or one that fails to produce the mechanisms needed to avert future turmoil.

In advance of the G8 Summit, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Center for Macroeconomics at Northwestern University, the Initiative on Global Markets at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, the Kellogg School of Management and Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), the Chinese National School of Development (CCER), the European Bruegel Institute, the Japan Economic Foundation, the Brazilian Fundação Getulio Vargas, and the Mexican Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) will host in Chicago a two-day international conference in early May 2012 on “Searching for Strategies to Restore Global Economic Stability and Growth." The conference will bring together senior policy practitioners, business leaders, academics, and thought leaders from select G8 and G20 countries to address key challenges confronting the global political economy including: sustained financial turmoil, renewed recessionary fears, persistent macro-imbalances, continued popular protest over damaged social compacts, and rising political populism. The conference will produce a summary report that will be released around the G8 Summit to help inform conversations at the Summit and the June 2012 G20 meeting to be held in Mexico City.

[Sabrina]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/switzerland-wants-its-gold-back-new-york-fed

Switzerland Wants Its Gold Back From The New York Fed

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/07/2012

Earlier today, we reported that Germans are increasingly concerned that their gold, at over 3,400 tons a majority of which is likely stored in the vault 80 feet below street level of 33 Liberty (recently purchased by the Fed with freshly printed money at far higher than prevailing commercial real estate rates for the Downtown NY area), may be in jeopardy,and will likely soon formally inquire just how much of said gold is really held by the Fed. As it turns out, Germany is not alone: as part of the "Rettet Unser Schweizer Gold", or the “Gold Initiative”: A Swiss Initiative to Secure the Swiss National Bank’s Gold Reserves initiative, launched recently by four members of the Swiss parliament, the Swiss people should have a right to vote on 3 simple things: i) keeping the Swiss gold physically in Switzerland; ii) forbidding the SNB from selling any more of its gold reserves, and iii) the SNB has to hold at least 20% of its assets in gold. Needless the say the implications of this vote actually succeeding are comparable to the Greeks holding a referendum on whether or not to be in the Eurozone. And everyone saw how quickly G-Pap was "eliminated" within hours of making that particular threat. Yet it begs the question: how many more international grassroots outcries for if not repatriation, then at least an audit of foreign gold held by the New York Fed have to take place, before Goldman's (and New York Fed's) Bill Dudley relents? And why are the international central banks not disclosing what their people demand, if only to confirm that the gold is present and accounted for, even if it is at the Federal Reserve?

Full disclosure via the Initiative's website: http://www.goldinitiative.ch/

[Kano]

BIG EVENTS TO LOOK OUT FOR THIS MONTH

Bill Woods/Brockbrader mentions looking out for the big events happening this month with world leaders.

NATO 25th Summit - Chicago - 20/21 May

(Chicago is Obama's choice)

http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-6810455A-4A7E4D75/natolive/news_86891.htm


38th G8 Summit - Camp David, Maryland - 18/19 May

(Wikipedia: The 38th G8 summit is to be held in Camp David, Maryland, United States on May 18-19, 2012. It will occur alongside the NATO summit, likely generating an unusual amount of attention—positive and negative.The location of the summit was previously scheduled for the McCormick Place in Chicago, which will remain as the host city of the 2012 NATO summit beginning on May 20th).

Bildeberg Conference - Chantilly, Virginia - 31 May

G20 Summit - Mexico - 18/19 June




(ho ho)
Searching for Strategies to Restore Global Economic Stability and Growth
External event on 2nd May 2012
Location: Chicago

The G8 Summit that will take place in the United States May 19-20, 2012 will likely exhibit the same urgency that has attended other recent G8 and G20 meetings. Slow growth, high unemployment, foreign debt concerns, financial disarray, and mounting social unrest mean that the global economy will once again take center stage at the upcoming G8 meeting. Although a global depression may have been averted, recession in Europe and a further global slowdown are likely. Recovery remains uncertain and protracted at best. The situation has left leaders groping for a “desperate optimism,” as Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, recently described it. Leaders of developed economies, struggling with their own high levels of sovereign debt, are unlikely to generate new approaches to current problems without the help of others. Emerging economies like China and Brazil - which have remained relatively immune to the ongoing crisis and may hold the key to a more stable future - are themselves put at risk by adverse conditions and are not yet in a position to drive solutions.

The 2012 G8 Summit, along with Mexico City’s G20 Summit that will follow only weeks later in June 2012, are poised to serve as a crucial juncture in the unfolding global economic crisis, one that either begins to chart a new path toward stability, or one that fails to produce the mechanisms needed to avert future turmoil.

In advance of the G8 Summit, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Center for Macroeconomics at Northwestern University, the Initiative on Global Markets at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, the Kellogg School of Management and Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), the Chinese National School of Development (CCER), the European Bruegel Institute, the Japan Economic Foundation, the Brazilian Fundação Getulio Vargas, and the Mexican Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) will host in Chicago a two-day international conference in early May 2012 on “Searching for Strategies to Restore Global Economic Stability and Growth." The conference will bring together senior policy practitioners, business leaders, academics, and thought leaders from select G8 and G20 countries to address key challenges confronting the global political economy including: sustained financial turmoil, renewed recessionary fears, persistent macro-imbalances, continued popular protest over damaged social compacts, and rising political populism. The conference will produce a summary report that will be released around the G8 Summit to help inform conversations at the Summit and the June 2012 G20 meeting to be held in Mexico City.

This article was written a while ago but in light of the NATO summit in Chicago in the next couple of weeks, it reminded me to repost is. Calling it 'targetcity' just stuck out like a sore thumb. I'm not trying to fear-monger, but I do think that those initiates communicate out in plain sight when need be.
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2011/02/15/target-to-open-on-chicagos-state-street.html

[Sabrina]

http://lawyerocracyontrial.wordpress.com/

Australia

LAWYEROCRACY ON TRIAL 21 MAY 2012, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
On 21 May 2012 the Victorian Government is conducting an inquiry into the absence of professional standards in the Australian (legal) profession, and at the broad intersection of the legal profession with the upper benches of all three branches of State and Federal government (benches that these days look like little more than an exclusive lawyers club).

This unprecedented and history making trial begins at 10.00 am on Monday 21 May 2012 and will be held at 55 King Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

This hearing (sub-named Michael McGarvie - Legal Services Commissioner v Harold James Johnson) will be the biggest Australian whistleblowing, corruption and media exposing event of 2012.

[Sabrina]

http://www.wnd.com/2012/05/banking-giant-hsbc-a-criminal-enterprise/

WND EXCLUSIVE
BANKING GIANT HSBC 'A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE'
Whistleblower makes damning case in video interview

video interview at link...

The global banking giant HSBC is a “criminal” operation, charges a former officer for the company’s southern New York region in a video interview with WND.

John Cruz, a former vice president and relationship manager, has turned over to WND more than 1,000 pages of documents, including customer account ledgers for dozens of companies through which, he charges, the financial institution was laundering money each month.


Cruz told WND that as a relationship manager, it was his responsibility to look up various accounts in the HSBC computer system and visit the account holders in person to offer additional banking products and services.

“I pulled these documents because I thought they were evidence of suspicious activity taking place,” Cruz affirmed when presented by WND with various HSBC computer ledgers of customer accounts. “These same documents I brought to bank security and my managers in the bank.”

To his surprise, HSBC management and security did not welcome his reports of suspicious activity.

“My managers told me I was crazy and I didn’t know what I was talking about,” he said. “They told me it was none of my business what goes on in transactions. But that’s my job.”

WND showed Cruz the HSBC account ledger for a business named United Express, as seen redacted in Exhibit 1 below:


full story and ledger copies at link

[Sabrina]

USA

via Mass Arrests Facebook page Sunday

Massive Voter Fraud caught happening in 3 states

In Maine:

Romney Camp Circulates Fake List of Paul Delegate Nominees at Maine GOP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IcgOuuM1VkM

Also in Navada:

Interview - Nevada Delegate Fraud. Wis and Rachel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IcgOuuM1VkM

Also in Colorado:

Mitt Romney corruption exposed!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oTp_CwFlg70

[Sabrina]

http://siliconfist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/iceland-leads-global-revolution.html

Iceland leads the Global Revolution!

In Iceland, the people has made the government resign, the primary banks have been nationalized, it was decided to not pay the debt that these created with Great Britain and Holland due to their bad financial politics and a public assembly has been created to rewrite the constitution.

And all of this in a peaceful way.

A whole revolution against the powers that have created the current global crisis. This is why there hasn’t been any publicity during the last two years: What would happen if the rest of the EU citizens took this as an example? What would happen if the US citizens took this as an example.

This is a summary of the facts:

2008. The main bank of the country is nationalized.
The Krona, the currency of Iceland devaluates and the stock market stops.
The country is in bankruptcy

2008. The citizens protest in front of parliament and manage to get new elections that make the resignation of the prime minister and his whole government.
The country is in bad economic situation.
A law proposes paying back the debt to Great Britain and Holland through the payment of 3,500 million euros, which will be paid by the people of Iceland monthly during the next 15 years, with a 5.5% interest.

2010. The people go out in the streets and demand a referendum. In January 2010 the president denies the approval and announces a popular meeting.

In March the referendum and the denial of payment is voted in by 93%. Meanwhile the government has initiated an investigation to bring to justice those responsible for the crisis, and many high level executives and bankers are arrested. The Interpol dictates an order that make all the implicated parties leave the country.

In this crisis an assembly is elected to rewrite a new Constitution which can include the lessons learned from this, and which will substitute the current one (a copy of the Danish Constitution).
25 citizens are chosen, with no political affiliation, out of the 522 candidates. For candidacy all that was needed was to be an adult and have the support of 30 people. The constitutional assembly starts in February of 2011 to present the ‘carta magna’ from the recommendations given by the different assemblies happening throughout the country. It must be approved by the current Parliament and by the one constituted through the next legislative elections.

So in summary of the Icelandic revolution:
-resignation of the whole government
-nationalization of the bank.
-referendum so that the people can decide over the economic decisions.
-incarcerating the responsible parties
-rewriting of the constitution by its people

Have we been informed of this through the media?
Has any political program in radio or TV commented on this?
No!
The Icelandic people have been able to show that there is a way to beat the system and has given a democracy lesson to the world.

- anonymous

[Sabrina]

http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/05/08/murdoch-and-the-big-lie/

Murdoch and the big lie


The malign political influence of the Murdochs poses a fundamental challenge to British democracy. This will not be dealt with by selling off the ownership of their papers, welcome though this might be, or the removal of their influence from BSkyB on the grounds that the Murdochs are not fit and proper people. The scandal has now clarified a far more breathtaking question: is Britain governed by a big lie?

The extraordinary importance of the question can be illuminated by comparing it to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, another critical turning point in the collapsing legitimacy of the UK’s political order.

Tony Blair willfully misled parliament and voters by claiming that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction that threatened directly the interests of the UK. This was a contrived excuse for the war; known in everyday language as a lie (something the Americans admitted openly). While intensely damaging for our democracy, we were not, however, misled about the actual policy.

To this day Blair, David Miliband, David Cameron et al say it was right to support the Americans at the time. Her Majesty’s Government was not pretending not to be doing what it was actually doing – in this sense it was honest. It was only lying about the justification for doing it.

We now face an altogether more profound falsehood: a government that flatly denies doing what it is doing. The Prime Minister told the BBC on its flagship Andrew Marr show that when it came to his government and the Murdochs, “It would be absolutely wrong for there to be any sort of deal and there wasn’t… There was no grand deal”.

This is a big lie. There was a deal. It was indeed wrong. We should not just be talking about the Murdochs, we should focus on the heart of the problem: the government.

The Rubicon

The Murdochs and the Conservatives “shared” the code-name ‘Rubicon’ for the BSkyB bid that would have led to its complete takeover by NewsCorp. In an email of 11 January 2011 that would make a classicist shudder, James Murdoch’s Director of Public Affairs even reports a conversation with Jeremy Hunt’s office about “the Rubicon process”.

Fortunately the ‘process’ was wider than the Rubicon itself, a river south of Ravenna in northern Italy that Julius Caesar crossed with his legion to challenge the Roman Republic. It was his point of no return. He went on to become Dictator and although assassinated turned the Roman Republic into an Empire.

The British ‘Rubicon’ was not traversed. Had it been, the plotters within Westminster would have granted domination of the country’s media to the triumphant conqueror of American television and the Wall Street Journal. But what is the state of our ‘Rome’, now that we have, for the moment at least, escaped this fate? The great nineteenth century chronicler of The English Constitution, Walter Bagehot, saw it as a unique, ermine-clad, uncodified but nonetheless vigorous ‘republic’, more effective and equally as vital as the United States’.

Can we return to such self-confidence now that Murdoch’s prurient legion of hackers, corrupt police, and fixers have been turned back? Will the vigour of our press be secure if its wealthiest defenders are an assortment of Oligarchs? We can celebrate that we are a freer, less intimidated country. Yet the outcome of the Leveson Inquiry could still be another ‘soon-to-be-forgotten’ report, its testimony merely video of the convulsions of a proud but dying system.

Last year, in a long post - After Murdoch - written fast as the Milly Dowler ‘firestorm’ created the Leveson Inquiry and ruined the BSkyB bid, and before Murdoch and Son had been summonsed to appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee, I asked how it was possible for Murdoch to have gained the power he did.

Now, in the wake of the three days of Murdoch testimony, one by James and two by Rupert, the publication of the Rubicon emails (see the pdf) between the office of the Secretary of State for Culture, Jeremy Hunt, and that of James Murdoch (which must surely lead to Hunt’s resignation before long), and after the new Report of the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport, three specific issues can be clarified. How they are resolved will shape the future of British politics.

First: Was there an across-the-board deal or understanding, or what in a grave and thoughtful column Peter Oborne calls a “Grand Bargain”, between the two teams of the Conservative leadership of Cameron and Osborne and the Murdochs, Rupert and James?

Second: We know in detail that there was widespread criminal intrusion and the corruption of police and public officials (and maybe worse) by Murdoch staff and their agents, in News International’s News of the World, across the early years of this century. This was followed by a systematic cover-up by both News International and Scotland Yard after the Royal Editor of the News of the World, Clive Goodman, was sentenced to jail in January 2007. Did Rupert and James Murdoch know about or connive in these illegal activities? Were they holding the reins when they were happening and/or during the cover up?

Third: The cover up originally scapegoated Goodman. His editor, Andy Coulson, claimed Goodman was a “rogue reporter” acting alone and falsely claimed ignorance of hacking. But he resigned as it had taken place “on my watch”. He was then hired by David Cameron and George Osborne to handle the Conservative party’s messaging in the run up to the 2010 election. Did Cameron and Osborne also participate in the cover up through ‘willful ignorance’ and by turning a blind eye to the evidence of the Murdochs’ acting illegally, as they developed their media strategy with Coulson and in many meetings with the Murdochs and their people?

The questions are linked. If ‘no’ is the answer to all of them there is only a minor problem, one that Leveson can deal with easily.

If the answer to the first is ‘yes’ and the second two ‘no’, then there was a worked out understanding or “grand deal” – but Cameron and Osborne entered into it with two basically decent if tough chaps, Murdoch and Murdoch, who were men of integrity unaware of and opposed to any illegality. Such a deal would have been wrong, arguably profoundly wrong, but perhaps that’s politics.

If, on the other hand, the answer to the first is ‘no’ and the second ‘yes’, then there was no grand deal, but the Murdochs are responsible for a criminal conspiracy. In this case we have a serious problem with media behavior but not the politicians. Cameron and Osborne may have been foolish or wrong in their own policy but this was not one developed with and on behalf of the Murdoch team.

But if the answer to all three questions is “yes” then there was an extensive agreement between the heads of our government and a criminal network, made significantly worse by Cameron and Osborne being complicit in the illegality because they were aware of it (or wilfully unaware). Which means the government needs to fall.

And the answer to all three questions is “yes”.

Here is how we know.

The Grand Understanding

full story at link

[Sabrina]

http://www.economonitor.com/blog/2012/05/europe-edges-closer-to-the-endgame/
8 May

Europe Edges Closer to the Endgame


Later this week, I plan to write a more comprehensive post on the European sovereign debt crisis to incorporate what we have learned since the French and Greek elections. Here’s a short preview of what I will have to say.

For me the details and the minutiae can be distracting. When analysing situations like the European sovereign debt crisis that have the potential to cause seismic shifts in the economic landscape, one must develop a macro framework that produces discernable outcomes and then re-analyse the details as they come to light to understand whether that framework fits and how the details change the picture. I have argued for 18 months now that there are only three options for the euro zone: monetisation, default, or break-up. And while a lot of analysts have not shared this macro view, I believe they are coming to my way of thinking because all of the events since I developed this frame are bearing this view out.

The euro zone is unworkable in its present form because it is predicated on harmonised national fiscal and economic policies that are supposed to obviate the flexibility that a sovereign national currency affords. That harmonisation has never existed for the euro member states nor do I believe it ever will. And that means that the euro zone will always be beset by crises during economic downturns. Why?

Member states within the euro zone cannot run independent monetary policy. They cannot depreciate a national currency. They cannot depend on a central bank backstop. Nor can they run sufficiently countercyclical fiscal policy to deal with a large downturn. These are the policy tools that euro zone members have given up to benefit from the single currency due to a perceived free rider problem when the Maastricht Treaty was formulated. Without some kind of a countervailing supranational fiscal agent or sovereign risk pooling, this arrangement invariably means some sort of crisis will arise when the unharmonised economies of the euro zone result in large enough current account imbalances. Put simply, the euro zone is made for crisis. It is designed to fail.

Some of the designers knew this. They wanted the euro for political reasons and were willing to allow it to come to form in its present incomplete form. Their contention at the time was that the euro zone would develop the necessary institutions to prevent crisis before any crisis occurred – or at least before any crisis became existential. This contention has proved false as we are now in that existential crisis.

full story at link

and

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/timworstall/100017007/why-the-euro-is-doomed-to-fall-apart-it-was-an-incredibly-stupid-idea-in-the-first-place/


Tim Worstall is a Senior Fellow at the Adam Smith Institute in London, and one of the global experts on the metal scandium, one of the rare earths.

Why the euro is doomed to fall apart: it was an incredibly stupid idea in the first place

[Sabrina]

UlHuJI5-PNc


Michael Tellinger On CNBC Africa 7 May 2012 - Constitutional Court Case

Michael Tellinger is interviewed on CNBC Africa on 7 May 2012 - regarding his Constitutional Court action against Standard Bank, The South African Reserve Bank and the Minister of Finance. On 24 April 2012 Michael served a 1100 page legal document - Notice of Motion on all three parties. The paper presents more than 30 breaches of laws, bills and acts by all three parties that have been unchallenged until now. They have until around 18th May to serve their legal defence. By 28 May all papers have to be submitted after which a date for the trial will be set by the court. This is a full bench of the Constitutional Court - 11 Judges; 22 clerks; and a host of researchers to really get to the bottom of the atrocities committed by the banks against the people of the world.

[Sabrina]

http://www.naturalnews.com/035812_Pfizer_Obamacare_collusion.html#ixzz1uNgjvRax

Pfizer and Merck under investigation for colluding with Obama Administration on health care overhaul

Wednesday, May 09, 2012


(NaturalNews) Most Americans have no idea what truly went on behind closed doors during the crafting and illegitimate passing of Obamacare, also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But a congressional investigation currently underway is seeking to unearth the dirty details, including how drug giants like Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. greased the financial wheels to make sure their pharmaceuticals received preferential treatment as part of the health care overhaul.

As reported by Bloomberg, Republicans from the House Energy and Commerce Committee have been toiling for roughly a year now to obtain key documents, emails and other pertinent information exposing the truth about Big Pharma's role in the creation of Obamacare. But to date, neither the Obama White House nor Big Pharma has cooperated in any significant way in releasing any of this information, according to the committee.

"This has been like pulling teeth, trying to get information," said Congressman Michael Burgess (R-Tex.), to Bloomberg. Besides Pfizer and Merck, drug companies Amgen Inc., Abbott Laboratories and AstraZeneca are also being pressed by Rep. Burgess and his allies for information, as are industry lobbyists, lawyers, and several doctor and hospital groups.

What is it they hope to find? To start, it is already clear that Big Pharma agreed to provide price discounts on drugs in exchange for their being covered as part of Obamacare. But other secret deals between Obama and the drug industry were likely made as well, and Rep. Burgess wants to know what those were and under what terms they were negotiated.

"For [Big Pharma], the ACA (Obamacare) is a gift, bringing in anywhere between 30 - 40 million people who could not previously afford pharmaceuticals," Peter Pitts from the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest is quoted as saying by Medical Marketing and Media.

Meanwhile, at least 26 U.S. states are currently challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare, and the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of Obamacare in late June.

This potential nullification of Obamacare at both the state and federal levels would obviously also nullify the special deals made between the Obama White House and Big Pharma. But for the time being, full disclosure and transparency -- which was the hallmark rhetoric of the Obama campaign from the beginning -- is in due order.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.bloomberg.com

http://communities.washingtontimes.com

http://www.judicialwatch.org

http://blog.beliefnet.com

http://www.infowars.com

http://www.mmm-online.com

[Sabrina]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/9255030/David-Cameron-failed-to-declare-meeting-with-Rebekah-Brooks-two-days-after-Andy-Coulson-quit.html
9 May UK


David Cameron failed to declare two new meetings with News International chief Rebekah Brooks, including one just two days after his press aide Andy Coulson quit, it has emerged.

David Cameron failed to declare two new meetings with News International chief Rebekah Brooks, including one just two days after his press aide Andy Coulson quit, it has emerged.

The Prime Minister met Mrs Brooks, who resigned as chief executive of News International months later over the phone hacklng affair, at a point-to-point race meeting in his Oxfordshire constituency. The pair also met at a local fair in Chipping Norton.
The meetings were not recorded in the official disclosure list published by Downing Street.
The pair reportedly texted each other on their mobile phones to ensure they were not spotted together when they met at the point to point on January 23 last year. Despite the attempt at secrecy, photographs of Mr Cameron were taken but have not been released at his request.

The timing was important because two days earlier Mr Coulson, a former editor of The Sun, had resigned as Downing Street's communications director as pressure over the phone hacking scandal heightened.

The revelations come as both Mr Coulson and Mrs Brooks prepare to give evidence under oath to the Leveson inquiry on press ethics on Thursday and Friday.


full story at link


and Telegraph


Rupert Murdoch faces calls for more News Corp share buybacks as profits surge

Rupert Murdoch will face calls from Wall Street to return more of News Corporation's multi-billion-dollar cash pile to shareholders, as his media empire prepares to report a double-digit hike in profits to more than $750m.

[Sabrina]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/9252631/One-in-three-City-jobs-axed-since-recession-says-CEBR.html
9 May UK

One-in-three City jobs axed since recession, says CEBR
Almost one in three City jobs has been shed since the recession, with London now “weaker” than at any stage during the financial crisis, according to a new analysis

[Sabrina]

http://the2012scenario.com/2012/05/finally-mainstream-media-covers-new-banking-legal-action/#more-118814

8 May via Stephen Cook

Finally, Mainstream Media Covers New Banking Legal Action!


This is phenomenal! At last, action against the world’s central and reserve banks makes a mainstream media outlet!

This video was published on You Tube just yesterday (May 7, 2012). It is from the mainstream South African news station ABN Digital, Africa’s leading online platform in business, economic and stock market news.

Separate to the Neil Keenan/Keith Scott filed liens against the 12 US Federal Reserve Banks and the liens they have filed against the international G7 Central Banks, South African author, researcher and scientist, Michael Tellinger has just filed his own 1,100 page notice of motion against South Africa’s Standard Bank in the country’s Constitutional Court, accusing the bank of “unlawful and unconstitutional activity”.

He has also served the notice on South Africa’ s Reserve Bank and the country’s Minister of Finance.

“It is pure exploitation of every South African citizen!” he says. (And the world, Michael, and the world!)

Michael Tellinger is interviewed by ABN’s Samantha Loring.

_30xJbYq5KE


have also found the original media release sent out by Michael Tellinger himself:

Press Release: 24 April 2012

Michael Tellinger Launches Constitutional Court Action Against Standard Bank; and The South African Reserve Bank; and The Minister of Finance.

After a slight technical hiccup last Friday at the Constitutional Court, regarding the binding of a substantially long legal document, Michael Tellinger made global history on the 23rd & 24th April 2012, in Johannesburg when he filed his 1100-page NOTICE OF MOTION against Standard Bank in the Constitutional Court of South Africa, accusing the bank of unlawful and unconstitutional activity. The case number allocated by the Constitutional Court is CCT 28/12.

Tellinger also served the NOTICE OF MOTION on the RESERVE BANK OF SOUTH AFRICA and the MINISTER OF FINANCE, alleging that they are jointly and consciously implicated in the unscrupulous and devious activity that has led to unimaginable financial hardship of the South African people.

There is hardly any South African who has not been harmed in some way by the actions of the banks. For too long have banking giants been unassailable and untouchable by the common man.

It is now official and it can be claimed that never before has such a case been brought against any of these corporations at this level anywhere in the world, where for the first time a layperson has been given direct access to the Constitutional Court regarding the devious activities of the banks.

This case may have started as a matter of principle for Michael Tellinger against STD Bank, but it has escalated to such a degree that every South African and everyone in the world could be affected, because a positive outcome will result in a major public policy shift and the changing of the laws that govern the banks and bringing economic justice to the people.

Tellinger will argue that the lack of control and intervention by the MINISTER OF FINANCE has allowed the banks and the RESERVE BANK to do as they please with impunity and without recourse, and in the process have enslaved millions of honest, hard-working South Africans to a life of misery and debt through the banks’ unconstitutional and unlawful activities.

This historic case will attempt to redress the imbalance that has taken place for centuries by the few that have been called the banking elite. The Constitutional Court is the highest court on constitutional matters, its very foundation being the protector of human rights and its mandate to protect the people.

The Court is mandated to bring legislation in par with the constitutional framework principles and to develop common law principles. The legacy follows Nelson Mandela’s vision, that no matter who or what you represent, equality, justice and the people’s voice shall be harmonised before an independent, unbiased judicial system founded on the principles of rights enshrined in the Constitution.

This case will be a challenge for the Constitutional Court, and Tellinger trusts that it will make its findings properly, considering all the facts to redress the laws and do whatever it needs to do, to redress the hardship of the people caused by financial abuse.

Tellinger appeals to every South African that has been harmed by their bank to join this important action, so that it truly represents millions of honest, hardworking and trusting citizens who have been unable to do so for themselves.

Thousands have been repeatedly frustrated by the invisible protective legal shield around the banks, and the legal system that seems to support the banks.

“Many people carry severe personal grudges against the banks that have done them financial harm, but are powerless to do anything about it.” Said Tellinger

He added that “People are completely oblivious to how they have been conned and deceived by their banks about money and how it is created, but once they find out the terrible truth about how banks really operate and how they use our signature to profiteer on us, and how they make money out of thin air, they will be very angry and realise how important this action against the banks is” he added.

Tellinger urges each and every South African to read as much about this case as possible to inform themselves and to join the petition of signatures that will represent the rest of South Africa in the loudest voice ever presented at the Constitutional Court. Please go to http://www.thebigcase.co.za and sign the petition page.

Details of the hearing will follow as soon as we have been allocated a date by the court. We will keep everyone informed on the above website.

Michael Tellinger

(Via Steve Beckow's site: Interestingly, when I first posted the video above it was showing on our site. Now you need to go to YouTube to view it. And despite several hundred of you reading this story here already, the YouTube View counter is not reflecting accurate numbers.)

[Sabrina]

Benjy's site:

http://www.benjaminfulford.typepad.com/

05/09/2012

RE: Question from an Oath Keeper
Ben,

Thank you again for your continued correspondence. It makes sense that the Chen incident was a PR stunt, as they needed some cover for Clinton and Geithner being in China to grovel. I have been paying careful attention to the news being given here in the U.S. by 'Drake', and he recently made a statement that corroborates what you are saying.

I do sincerely hope that the plan to arrest these people and put an end to this is close at hand. The recent statements made by General Nikolai Makarov in regards to the possibility of Russia using preemptive force against the U.S./NATO missile defense system, which is set to be unveiled at the NATO summit on May 20-21st, (which will follow the G8 summit at Camp David, where Putin will meet with Obama), is the most frightening talk in my lifetime. If this is saber-rattling, then they've officially got my attention; and the attention of all within Oath Keepers. This is not Ahmadinejad throwing around hollow banter; this is coming from the highest levels of the Russian leadership. Putin himself put forth a decree today issuing the same type of warning. On top of this, we've got the impending joint U.S./Russian special forces exercises on May 21-24 to "seize and hold" the Denver International Airport and the headquarters of both the CIA and the NSA. All of this goes on while Americans are fast asleep.

Perhaps May 20th will come and go without so much as a whimper, but this concerns me greatly. You say that these oligarchs have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, but they are turning Chicago into a massive police city in preparation for the NATO summit, and are officially stating that they will be using Joliet Prison, an old, abandoned 'gulag', as an internment center for protesters. All that we can do, (those of us not 'in the know' in regards to the supposed planned mass arrests), is to go off what we are seeing and hearing, and it's all very worrisome. If what Drake is reporting is correct, then these arrests should take place sometime in the next few weeks, and the new financial system implemented. If not, then we've got a very serious situation on our hands. We in Oath Keepers will continue to follow every angle that we can. The dam seems ready to break. The question is, will the water trickle out and will we repair the dam, or will the water wash us over? Many of us are prepped and ready to bug out to safer ground, as we all sense that something is close at hand. But who really knows how much longer they can prop up this phony system? I am maintaining that what is coming may not be as nefarious as some believe. I will continue to keep a close eye on your news reports, and hopefully catch the trigger point before it happens.

Best,

To the oath-keepers and all patriots,

Remember that what is closest to you is most important. General Patton had a 2 million man army but was murdered because of people who were personally close to him. Make sure you and your most trusted colleagues and family have contingency plans for your own immediate surroundings. If there is any action you can personally take, take it. Worry about the rest of the world only after you have done that. Thank you.

Benjamin F:

Weekly Geopolitical News and Analysis20120508: The White Dragon Roars, Europe Rattles. Plus: inside report on secret financial deals

The elections last weekend in Europe showed the inevitable popular backlash against government mandated austerity. The problem is that the new governments will also find their purses empty unless they start talking with the White Dragon Society. This time, they need to send official embassy representatives with valid IDs and not another batch of anonymous agents. When the new financial system starts up and the criminals are removed from the core of the Western financial system, then money will pour like rain on Europe (it already is in the non-cabal controlled part of the world).

The basic outlines of the new system are as follows: The US dollars owned by people outside of the US (and those created before 2008 in the US) will be backed by gold and a basket of commodities and other currencies. This will then become the international dollar (or perhaps international yen or yuan) and be used to facilitate world trade. The Euro will be split into a fortified Deutschemark shared by Northern countries while the Mediterranean countries will revert to their traditional currencies and devalue them until their real economies are competitive enough. This will be followed by a one off massive debt write off.

To read about the back-room maneuvers leading to the birth of the new financial system please help finance our investigations by subscribing to this newsletter or else, if you cannot afford it, ask a friend to e-mail you a copy.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Princess Mabel has resigned as general director of The Elders, a think tank created by Nelson Mandela in 2007.

The organisation says the princess made the decision to step down after her husband Prince Friso was seriously injured in a skiing accident in February. The prince is in a coma and is being cared for in a London hospital.

The think tank says Princess Mabel will continue to work part-time as a senior adviser. She and the children will continue to live in London.

The princess took up the post of general director on 1 July 2008. The Elders is an independent group of global leaders working together to promote peace and human rights. The organisation is chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

(jric)
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide

* Mabel, Princess of Orange-Nassau is said by some to be a member of the Committee of 300


via American Kabuki

[Sabrina]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/9254831/City-bonuses-will-collapse-says-CEBR.html
10 May UK

City bonuses will collapse, says CEBR
City bonuses will "collapse" to £2.3bn in 2012-13 – the lowest total payout pool in 14 years – with large handouts "the exception, not the rule", according to a think-tank.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said bonuses will fall by half year-on-year, amid a slack labour market and a decline in City jobs since the recession.
New figures from the body show total bonus pots for City of London workers are expected to fall 48pc in the year ahead, down from £4.4bn in 2011-12 and five times below their pre-recession peak of £11.6bn in 2007-8. The last time bonus pots were around the £2.5bn mark was in 1998.

Douglas McWilliams, CEBR chief executive, said: "City remuneration levels are coming back into the real world. Employees are being told, 'Your job is your bonus so don't expect a large sum in addition'.

"More active shareholders are pressing management to remunerate in line with the economic situation. And our estimates of City activity – reflected in the sharp fall in the number of City jobs – means that pay has to fall to reflect the underlying economic reality."

The report comes in the midst of a so-called "Shareholder Spring" in the City, where investor pressure over bosses' pay has toppled three of the capital's most high-profile chief executives in recent weeks - Andrew Moss at Aviva, David Brennan at AstraZeneca and Sly Bailey at Trinity Mirror.

[Sabrina]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/may/10/spanish-government-rescues-fourth-largest-bank-bankia
10 May Spain

Spanish government rescues fourth largest lender, Bankia
Loans given to ailing bank will be converted into shares as jitters drive Madrid stock market to eight-year low

Spain's conservative government partly nationalised the country's fourth-largest bank, Bankia, after investors dumped Spanish bonds and stocks amid increasing worries about the country's banking sector.........

The measure is further proof that Spain's banking sector has failed to digest a huge pile of toxic assets and debt left over by a property bubble that burst four years ago. There have been suggestions that it will need help from the eurozone's rescue fund to tackle the problem.

[Sabrina]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18030022

JPMorgan reveals shock $2bn trading loss on investments

JPMorgan Chase, the biggest US bank, has revealed a surprise trading loss of $2bn (£1.2bn) on complex investments made by its traders.

Overall, after accounting for other gains, losses at its chief investment office (CIO) are estimated to come in at $800m in the second quarter.

The loss could be as big as $1bn, chief executive Jamie Dimon said in an unscheduled conference call.

JPMorgan shares fell 6% after-hours, with other bank stocks following.

Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America also suffered heavy losses in electronic trading after the market close.

The strategy taken at its CIO had been "riskier, more volatile and less effective" than previously believed, Mr Dimon said.

"There were many errors, sloppiness and bad judgement. These were egregious mistakes.

"They were self-inflicted and this is not how we want to run a business."

full story at link


and



(CNN) – JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon shocked Wall Street just after the market closed Thursday with news that the company had lost $2 billion since April 1 on trades in credit default swaps.

Sound familiar? It should. Credit default swaps based on housing mortgages created the tinder that was ignited by rising home defaults to create the conflagration of the 2008 financial crisis.

Trading in derivatives such as credit default swaps were designed to hedge against risk. But as we know, banks and other market players used these tools to create products that seemed to take the danger out of risky bets and reaped huge rewards - right up until the moment they didn’t. Banks and other businesses were stuck on the wrong side of the trade, trapped with a mountain of debt they couldn’t pay.

Speaking on a Thursday conference call – which the Financial Times’ Alphaville called “the most excruciating bank conference call we’ve ever heard” – Dimon said JPMorgan's losses stemmed from trades designed to hedge against risk, but those trades went awry due to "errors," "sloppiness" and "bad judgment." It doesn’t help that, just a month ago, Dimon decried the build-up of credit default swaps at JPMorgan’s London office, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, as a “tempest in a teapot.”

The losses of the past six weeks were mitigated by successful hedges that played out, Dimon said, but the bank expects its losses to exceed $800 million by the end of this quarter. And it stands to lose a further $1 billion more due to market volatility.

Still, some nagging questions remain, such as whether the losses were contained only to JPMorgan and not any other major banks.
more at link

[Sabrina]

Don't think this French change of government would have been expected at the start of this year. S


Sarkozy accepts French gov't resignation
May 11, 2012

Outgoing French President Nicolas Sarkozy Thursday declared to accept the resignation of the current government led by Prime Minister Francois Fillon, said a statement from the Elysee Palace.

"Prime Minister Francois Fillon presented today to the President of the Republic the resignation of the government, which was accepted," the presidency announced, while urging the government members to remain committed to their current duties until the new government was established.

Fillon was the only prime minister during Sarkozy's five-year mandate.

Fillon's government resignation comes as the Constitutional Council confirmed the results of the second round of presidential elections held on May 6, bringing the candidate of the Socialist Party Francois Hollande to the French Presidency.

Having obtained 51.6 percent of the presidential runoff, Hollande will be the first Socialist sitting in the presidential office of France since former president Francois Mitterrand's rule from 1981 to 1995.

Hollande will swear in on May 15 after the inauguration ceremony to take over power from Sarkozy, and to pick a socialist prime minister who will lead a new government.

and


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nicolas-sarkozy/9255097/Nicolas-Sarkozy-faces-questioning-in-raft-of-investigations-as-immunity-ends.html

Nicolas Sarkozy faces questioning in raft of investigations as immunity ends
Nicolas Sarkozy could face questioning in a raft of party financing and corruption cases when he leaves the Elysée next week and loses his presidential immunity.

.......
But the outgoing president could soon be called for questioning – either as a witness or potentially as a suspect – in several corruption cases when he loses presidential immunity a month after leaving office on May 15.

Judges are likely to want to summon him over an investigation into who ordered French intelligence to unlawfully seek to uncover the source of journalists working for Le Monde. France's intelligence chief is currently under investigation over the affair in which Le Monde exposed embarrassing links between Mr Sarkozy's government and Liliane Bettencourt, the l'Oréal billionaire caught up in a tax evasion and illegal party financing inquiry.

Mr Sarkozy is suspected of benefiting from brown envelopes of cash to help fund his 2007 campaign from Mrs Bettencourt and her late husband, André, whose former bookkeeper has told judges she withdrew 150,000 euros earmarked for Mr Sarkozy's then campaign treasurer. He also faces questioning over allegations he personally accepted cash from the Bettencourts during a visit shortly before his 2007 election. Mr Sarkozy denies wrongdoing on all accounts.


[

[Sabrina]

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/


Senior DOE Official Resigns
USA

by David Malakoff on 9 May 2012,

Arunava Majumdar, the head of the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), will leave his post next month, Energy Secretary Steven Chu wrote in an e-mail to agency staff members today. President Barack Obama had proposed elevating Majumdar to an undersecretary at DOE, but the Senate never confirmed the appointment.

"Under Arun's leadership, we have seen ARPA-E grow from a fledgling program to become a leading agency for innovation and energy research," Chu wrote in his e-mail. "Arun has recruited some of the most talented professionals across the country to join the ranks at ARPA-E and create programs that have the potential of changing the entire energy landscape."

Biochemist Eric Toone, a former professor at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and DOE's deputy director of technology for ARPA-E, will become head of ARPA-E, Chu wrote. David Sandalow, DOE's assistant secretary for policy and international affairs at the department, will become undersecretary.

Arun's departure "is a kick in the stomach," but Toone "will keep the agency in good hands," says Barton Gordon, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives who spearheaded the creation of ARPA-E in 2007. Gordon, now a lobbyist with K&L Gates in Washington, D.C., says Majumdar is a "good scientist and a good organizer who created a good bipartisan following [in Congress] for ARPA-E. I don't think people realized what a good politician he is. He's a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Company Announcements
Australian Securities Exchange Limited 20 Bridge Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
11 May

FIRSTFOLIO ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION OF CEO
Firstfolio Limited (ASX: FFF), the specialist mortgage and financial services company, today announced that Mark Forsyth has resigned his position as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, effective immediately.

The Board has appointed executive director Mark Flack as acting CEO while the board conducts a search for a new CEO.

[Sabrina]

11 May


Royal Coal announces board and CEO resignations

Royal Coal Corp announced that it has received the resignations of the following directors: Scott Hand, John Ellis, James Ladner, Michael Rousseau, Dino Titaro and Elia Crespo. The Company has also received the resignation of Mr Robert Heuler as Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

The Company would like to thank Messrs. Heuler, Hand, Ellis, Ladner, Rousseau and Titaro and Ms Crespo for their dedicated service to the Company throughout a very challenging period.

Source - Royal Coal Corp

some info. on the company:

Royal Coal Corp. engages in the exploration and development of coal properties primarily in the United States. It holds interests in the Big Branch, Sid Mining, and Laurel Fork Mining projects located in the vicinity of Hazard, Kentucky. It also focuses on base metal exploration in Quebec. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

[Sabrina]

ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Archbishop of Seoul’s resignation and appointment of Successor

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father Benedict XVI on May 10, 2012 accepted the resignation from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Seoul in Korea, by Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jinsuk, in accordance with canon. 401 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law. The Holy Father appointed Andrew Bishop Yeom Soo jung, until now titular Bishop of Tibiuca, Auxiliary and Vicar General of the same archdiocese as Archbishop of Seoul (Korea).

[Sabrina]

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/05/nobelist-steps-down-as-scientifi.html

Nobelist Steps Down as Scientific Leader of Texas Cancer Fund

The Nobel prize-winning biochemist who has steered the scientific arm of Texas's $3-billion cancer research fund is stepping down citing concerns over the agency's funding process.

Alfred Gilman, the chief scientific officer of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), yesterday wrote to CPRIT Executive Director William Gimson to say that he plans to resign effective 12 October. In the resignation letter obtained by ScienceInsider, Gilman explained that the 3-year-old CPRIT is now well established and no longer needs him as a full-time science officer. But he also expressed concerns about the agency's peer-review system.

[Sabrina]

PERU'S INTERIOR AND DEFENCE MINISTERS RESIGN[/B]


LIMA, May 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) - Peru's two cabinet members resigned yesterday under threat of being censured by Congress for the recent death of eight police officers in a clash with rebels.

Head of the cabinet, also known as the President of the Council of Ministers (PCM), confirmed yesterday that Interior Minister Daniel Lozada and Defence Minister Alberto Otarola both submitted their final resignations.

The resignations were made public just minutes after a legislative session was convened calling for a vote on the censure, Xinhua News Agency quoted the PCM as saying.

Earlier yesterday, Otarola publicly announced his resignation from the Ministry of Defence, according to Andina News Agency.

[modwiz]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18030022

JPMorgan reveals shock $2bn trading loss on investments

JPMorgan Chase, the biggest US bank, has revealed a surprise trading loss of $2bn (£1.2bn) on complex investments made by its traders.

Overall, after accounting for other gains, losses at its chief investment office (CIO) are estimated to come in at $800m in the second quarter.

The loss could be as big as $1bn, chief executive Jamie Dimon said in an unscheduled conference call.

JPMorgan shares fell 6% after-hours, with other bank stocks following.

Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America also suffered heavy losses in electronic trading after the market close.

The strategy taken at its CIO had been "riskier, more volatile and less effective" than previously believed, Mr Dimon said.

"There were many errors, sloppiness and bad judgement. These were egregious mistakes.

"They were self-inflicted and this is not how we want to run a business."

full story at link


and



(CNN) – JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon shocked Wall Street just after the market closed Thursday with news that the company had lost $2 billion since April 1 on trades in credit default swaps.

Sound familiar? It should. Credit default swaps based on housing mortgages created the tinder that was ignited by rising home defaults to create the conflagration of the 2008 financial crisis.

Trading in derivatives such as credit default swaps were designed to hedge against risk. But as we know, banks and other market players used these tools to create products that seemed to take the danger out of risky bets and reaped huge rewards - right up until the moment they didn’t. Banks and other businesses were stuck on the wrong side of the trade, trapped with a mountain of debt they couldn’t pay.

Speaking on a Thursday conference call – which the Financial Times’ Alphaville called “the most excruciating bank conference call we’ve ever heard” – Dimon said JPMorgan's losses stemmed from trades designed to hedge against risk, but those trades went awry due to "errors," "sloppiness" and "bad judgment." It doesn’t help that, just a month ago, Dimon decried the build-up of credit default swaps at JPMorgan’s London office, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, as a “tempest in a teapot.”

The losses of the past six weeks were mitigated by successful hedges that played out, Dimon said, but the bank expects its losses to exceed $800 million by the end of this quarter. And it stands to lose a further $1 billion more due to market volatility.

Still, some nagging questions remain, such as whether the losses were contained only to JPMorgan and not any other major banks.
more at link

My sense is this loss is connected to them not having access to the funds they used to have, therefore profit is down because theft has been stymied. They are now scrambling to make excuses that sound WEAK! These parasites are left working with old blood that is losing its' oxygen. Ever heard a tick scream? You will soon.

[Sabrina]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47372436
10 May

Fed Worries 'Fiscal Cliff' Is as Big a Threat as Europe


Federal Reserve officials are increasingly concerned about the coming “fiscal cliff,” putting it on par with the European financial crisis and the housing market as among the biggest potential threats for the U.S. economy.

And there appears to be a debate about what the Fed could or should do to counter the negative effects of the coming decline in federal spending and tax hikes.

At the heart of that debate is frustration within the central bank that Congress and the administration are relying too heavily on monetary policy to kick start the economy and keep the recovery going.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, in remarks last week, noted that fiscal stimulus is already wearing off.

“The cliff at the end of this year is just that writ large. Whether or not calmer heads will prevail and avoid this or do something useful, you know that's about as big an uncertainty as I can imagine anybody facing,” Evans said at the Milken Conference.

[Sabrina]

Unraveling is the word that comes to mind with the financial world... S:)


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9258455/Companies-must-raise-28-trillion-to-finance-wall-of-debt.html

11 May

Companies must raise £28 trillion to finance 'wall' of debt
Companies across the world face a "perfect storm" as they have to raise more than £25 trillion to finance an upcoming "wall" of debt.

Businesses will need to secure as much as £28.5 trillion to refinance old borrowings and fund new spending, raising major questions over the ability of the world economy to avoid a recession, according to a report from Standard & Poor's.

British companies will have to find between £220bn and £268bn of new financing to fund their growth plans on top of refinancing hundreds of billions of pounds more of existing debt, according to the ratings agency.

The scale of the refinancing required, as well as the amount of new debt companies must sell, could create what S&P described as a "perfect storm for credit markets".
more at link

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9258317/Chinese-sovereign-wealth-fund-stops-buying-European-government-debt.html

11 May

Chinese sovereign wealth fund stops buying European government debt

The eurozone has lost a crucial lifeline as China's biggest sovereign wealth fund said it no longer wanted to buy European government debt.

Amid resurgent political and financial crisis in Spain and Greece, Gao Ziqing, head of the China Investment Corporation (CIC), said the $440bn (£273bn) fund was "looking at opportunities in Europe" but added: "We don't want to buy any government bonds."
Eurozone leaders have tried to attract investors from Asia to help mop up excess sovereign debt. Both China and Japan have been supportive in the past, in part because Europe is one of their biggest export markets.

The retreat by China came amid political deadlock in Greece, the bank crisis in Spain and signs of a deepening economic recession.
European markets, which have plunged in recent days, closed up on hopes that Athens was close to getting a new government and that Madrid would on Friday stabilise its banks. The Eurostoxx was up 0.5pc, the German Dax rose 0.7pc and the FTSE climbed 0.3pc.

The euro fell to a three-and-a-half-year low against the pound.


and



Spanish banks need €100bn amid international aid warning
Spanish banks need €100bn (£80.2bn) of extra capital which is “likely” to require international aid, analysts have warned, as Madrid prepares another attempt to rescue its financial sector alone.

[ThePythonicCow]

JPMorgan reveals shock $2bn trading loss on investments

You've been busy tonight Sabrina :).


My sense is this loss is connected to them not having access to the funds they used to have, therefore profit is down because theft has been stymied. They are now scrambling to make excuses that sound WEAK! These parasites are left working with old blood that is losing its' oxygen. Ever heard a tick scream? You will soon.

My guess, Modwiz, is that this is the first visible sign in the collapse of the bazillion dollar derivatives market, scheduled to take down the current monetary system (for replacement with something worse, if the bastards get their way.) So - yes - for not having the funds they used to have - but by (evil) design.

(That's one big tick!)

[modwiz]

My guess, Modwiz, is that this is the first visible sign in the collapse of the bazillion dollar derivatives market, scheduled to take down the current monetary system (for replacement with something worse, if the bastards get their way.) So - yes - for not having the funds they used to have - but by (evil) design.)

Though I differ somewhat from your assessment of what is unfolding, I do respect your opinion. One reason is you may be correct. :( I don't want that and it has nothing to do with our opinions and attachments to them, but simply because your view is unpleasant. I don't for a minute believe that you want to be correct, but are simply calling it as you see it.

[modwiz]

Unraveling is the word that comes to mind with the financial world... S:)



11 May

Companies must raise £28 trillion to finance 'wall' of debt
Companies across the world face a "perfect storm" as they have to raise more than £25 trillion to finance an upcoming "wall" of debt.

Businesses will need to secure as much as £28.5 trillion to refinance old borrowings and fund new spending, raising major questions over the ability of the world economy to avoid a recession, according to a report from Standard & Poor's.



(Dons professors robe to speak in a scholarly manner)

Ahem. It is my lofty opinion that the banksters can shove all of this fake debt from fake money up the fake ass they pulled it out of.

Thank you. :yo::thank_you2:

(Removes robe)

[KiwiElf]

Modwiz & Paul
I guess I'm looking at all the possible "may be's" inbetween as well. It "feels" like a growing intensity from both extremes ;)

[Alie]

My guess, Modwiz, is that this is the first visible sign in the collapse of the bazillion dollar derivatives market, scheduled to take down the current monetary system (for replacement with something worse, if the bastards get their way.) So - yes - for not having the funds they used to have - but by (evil) design.

The one thing that stood out when Alex Jones talked with Lindsey Williams on 3/25/12 was what he said about the derivative markets. Click here for the show. (http://www.infowars.com/timeline-to-americas-total-destruction-with-pastor-lindsey-williams/) (Look at 22:53 mark)



According to Lindsey after talking to Tom Fowler Wall Street Insider


When will collapse happen? "When derivatives begin to crack"

[ThePythonicCow]

The one thing that stood out when Alex Jones talked with Lindsey Williams on 3/25/12 was what he said about the derivative markets. Click here for the show. (http://www.infowars.com/timeline-to-americas-total-destruction-with-pastor-lindsey-williams/) (Look at 22:53 mark)



According to Lindsey after talking to Tom Fowler Wall Street Insider


When will collapse happen? "When derivatives begin to crack"

Exactly.

Our own member, kk4aei, has made the same prediction - here (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?43793-Drake-Updates-clarifications-and-more&p=481811&viewfull=1#post481811).

[Timreh]

http://the2012scenario.com/2012/05/finally-mainstream-media-covers-new-banking-legal-action/#more-118814

8 May via Stephen Cook

Finally, Mainstream Media Covers New Banking Legal Action!


This is phenomenal! At last, action against the world’s central and reserve banks makes a mainstream media outlet!

This video was published on You Tube just yesterday (May 7, 2012). It is from the mainstream South African news station ABN Digital, Africa’s leading online platform in business, economic and stock market news.

Separate to the Neil Keenan/Keith Scott filed liens against the 12 US Federal Reserve Banks and the liens they have filed against the international G7 Central Banks, South African author, researcher and scientist, Michael Tellinger has just filed his own 1,100 page notice of motion against South Africa’s Standard Bank in the country’s Constitutional Court, accusing the bank of “unlawful and unconstitutional activity”.

He has also served the notice on South Africa’ s Reserve Bank and the country’s Minister of Finance.

“It is pure exploitation of every South African citizen!” he says. (And the world, Michael, and the world!)

Michael Tellinger is interviewed by ABN’s Samantha Loring.

_30xJbYq5KE


(Via Steve Beckow's site: Interestingly, when I first posted the video above it was showing on our site. Now you need to go to YouTube to view it. And despite several hundred of you reading this story here already, the YouTube View counter is not reflecting accurate numbers.)

Very encouraging video Sabrina
Looked up Michael Tellinger.. gutsy and inspirational guy!
Love to see some of that here in Australia
Not suprising the Youtube video shown above (post #903) was blocked on Avalon by ABN Digital which is Africa Business News

_30xJbYq5KE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_30xJbYq5KE

[Sabrina]

More on the JP Morgan story:

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/in-jpmorgan-chase-trading-bet-its-confidence-yields-to-loss/

In JPMorgan Chase Trading Bet, Its Confidence Yields to Loss

When reports emerged in the first week of April that a JPMorgan Chase trader in London was making bets so big they were distorting a little-known market in credit derivatives, an embedded regulator approached executives.

The senior supervisor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, one of roughly 40 Fed officials who work inside the bank, was told that senior management was not overly concerned about the reports, according to a person briefed on the matter.

The executives had been assured that things were fine by Ina Drew, the bank’s overall chief investment officer, and Bruno Iksil, the so-called London Whale leading the trade. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive, who had been traveling in Dallas and Atlanta that week, returned to tell analysts that the reports were “a complete tempest in a teapot.”

That would soon change. A week and a half later, top executives in a conference room on the 48th floor of the bank’s Park Avenue headquarters realized they had a problem.

Losses were mounting on the trade as hedge funds’ bets against the bank turned profitable. Conference calls between New York and London were not producing satisfactory answers. A team of risk officers now referred to as the Navy Seals began meeting twice a day, at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., with Mr. Dimon frequently in attendance.


The trading unit, called the chief investment office, was a star performer within the bank, producing profits even while intended to mitigate risk. But questions were being raised about what the trading unit was telling top executives in New York. Concerned risk executives began producing an analysis of the “Whale” trade every day and updating the New York Fed.

JPMorgan also contacted the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the national banking regulator, and Securities and Exchange Commission officials.

People inside the firm say that Ms. Drew campaigned vigorously to keep the trade on initially. These same people now say she and some of her colleagues are likely to be fired or forced to resign; however, no decisions have been made.

The mistakes “were self-inflicted, and this is not how we want to run a business,” Mr. Dimon said on Thursday evening when the bank disclosed that it had at least $2 billion of trading losses as a result of the strategy. The bank warned that the losses could grow, and further market turmoil on Friday threatened to add to the tally.

While the loss is not a huge threat to a bank as large and powerful as JPMorgan, whose shares tumbled 9.3 percent on Friday, it is a stark reminder that the banking system remains vulnerable to market shocks more than three years after the financial crisis. It has heightened concerns that big banks continue to make risky financial bets that could threaten the economy.

And additional fallout potentially awaits JPMorgan. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently opened a preliminary investigation into JPMorgan’s accounting practices and public disclosures about the trades, according to people briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is not public.

The inquiry, which is being run out of New York, will probably examine the bank’s past regulatory filings about the internal unit that placed the trades, as well as recent statements from the firm’s top executives.

The surprise loss and the regulatory scrutiny has now swung a harsh spotlight on a unit of JPMorgan that few people outside Wall Street knew existed.

The unit, which employs fewer than 40 people across the bank’s international offices, was created to manage the bank’s exposure to complicated global financial transactions, like interest rate changes and currency movements.

........full story at link

A senior Wall Street executive said on Friday: “JPMorgan violated the cardinal rule of risk: Don’t become the market.”

[Sabrina]

and more

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9261366/JP-Morgans-2bn-loss-was-an-accident-waiting-to-happen.html

JP Morgan's $2bn loss was an 'accident waiting to happen’
Senior executives at JP Morgan were given repeated warnings about the controversial unit responsible for a shock $2bn (£1.2bn) trading loss at the bank, it can be disclosed.

Staff from the bank’s investment banking arm privately told the management - including chief executive Jamie Dimon - that the bank’s Chief Investment Office (CIO) was an “accident waiting to happen”.

Bill Winters, the former co-chief executive of JP Morgan’s investment banking division, is understood to have been among senior staff at the bank who made clear their concerns about the risks being taken by the CIO.

Mr Winters and other staff from the investment bank raised their worries, saying the unit did not fully understand the risks it was taking and was not properly managing its positions.

In a further blow on Friday night, JP Morgan's credit rating was cut one notch by Fitch, while S&P lowered the bank's outlook to negative from stable.
full story at link

¤=[Post Update]=¤

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Very interesting story!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financial-crime/9260405/Top-SEC-investigator-David-Weber-put-on-leave-over-gun-comments.html


Top SEC investigator David Weber 'put on leave over gun comments'
The top investigator at the watchdog responsible for policing the Securities and Exchange Commission has been put on leave after openly talking about bringing a gun to work, it has been reported.

David Weber, the new lead investigator at the SEC's Office of Inspector General, also brought a bullet-proof vest into work, according to Reuters.

Mr Weber, who was placed on leave on Tuesday, joined the watchdog, known as the Office of Inspector General, in January from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That was shortly before David Kotz, the then head of the watchdog, left to work for a private investigations firm.

A lawyer for Mr Weber said that the investigator had been unfairly retaliated against after making complaints of his own about conduct within the watchdog. "A chronology of events will reveal that any allegations against my client are not only false, but are unlawful retaliation against an employee who did the right thing," said Chris Mead, a lawyer for Mr Weber.

The controversy is a distraction for the watchdog, which has been under increased pressure to monitor the SEC after the financial regulator failed to anticipate the financial crisis. The five commissioners who run the SEC, which is based in Washington, are still searching for a replacement for Mr Kotz. In his role, Mr Weber is responsible for investigations that the watchdog undertook.

The SEC declined to comment.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financial-crime/9258345/Millionaire-financier-Chris-Ruffle-under-investigation-over-5m-fraud.html

Millionaire financier Chris Ruffle under investigation over £5m 'fraud'
A millionaire financier with castles in Scotland and China faces possible prosecution by financial regulators for his suspected part in a £5m "fraud".

Chris Ruffle, who helped run the Chinese joint venture of international investment firm Martin Currie Investment Management, is understood to be under investigation over the "fraudulent" use of client funds. The potential action against Mr Ruffle emerged as Martin Currie agreed to pay a record $14m (£8.7m) fine for its part in the scandal.

The fine by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) related to the use of millions of dollars of investors' money to prop up failing investments held by the company. Mr Ruffle, who grows wine at his Chinese castle, worked on the funds when the transactions took place.

In complex financial transactions, Edinburgh-based Martin Currie funnelled money from one China-focused fund into another, without disclosing the full nature of the transaction. The money was then used to meet redemption requests from clients worried about the performance of their investments.

The US financial regulator, the SEC, which said its investigation was continuing, described the action by Martin Currie, which also has a branch in the US, as "fraudulent". The FSA said it amounted to a conflict of interest in the UK.
full story at link
It resulted in a £5.1m loss to investors, money which was eventually repaid by Martin Currie.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9261198/Warren-Buffett-may-be-among-those-hit-after-JP-Morgan-share-price-fall.html

Warren Buffett may be among those hit after JP Morgan share price fall
Warren Buffett is among those thought to be hit after JP Morgan saw billions of dollars wiped from its market value.

The 81 year-old disclosed in a television interview in February that he had acquired shares in JP Morgan for his own personal account, rather than for his company Berkshire Hathaway.

At last weekend's annual gathering of Berkshire shareholders in Omaha, Nebraska, Mr Buffett was asked why he purchased the shares just for his own account rather than the funds that Berkshire runs.

"My best ideas are all in Berkshire," he said. "That I can promise you."
full story at link

[Sabrina]

Turmoil continues in the eurozone

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9261386/Greece-fails-to-form-coalition-government-for-third-time.html

Greece fails to form coalition government for third time

Greece's wrangling politicians have again failed to form a new coalition government, leaving only one more meeting with the country's president before new elections are scheduled for June.

Socialist party leader and former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos, the third party leader this week to fail at the task, said he would hand the mandate back to the president on Saturday. The president will then bring all party leaders together in a last-ditch attempt to create a coalition.

Greece has plunged into political turmoil since elections on Sunday gave no party enough seats in Parliament to form a government. Voters furious at two years of harsh austerity measures taken in return for international bailouts worth €240bn (£193bn) rejected Greece's two formerly dominant parties, the socialist PASOK and the conservative New Democracy, in favor of a myriad of smaller parties on the left and right.

The anti-bailout Radical Left Coalition, or Syriza, led by Alexis Tsipras made the most gains, coming in second with 16.8pc of the vote and 52 seats in the 300-member parliament, campaigning on a pledge to overturn the austerity measures.

and
http://www.economist.com/node/21554549

In the first of three pieces on Europe’s future, we look at Greece’s enraged howl of an election, which makes its eventual departure from the euro zone more likely
May 12th 2012 | ATHENS |

story at link

[Sabrina]

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/bre84b00l-us-dewey-recap/

11 May USA


The Dewey chronicles: The rise and fall of a legal titan

NEW YORK, May 11, 2012 (Reuters) — It was a tale of doom foretold in a pie chart.

On January 27, Dewey & LeBoeuf's partners were summoned to a meeting on the 22nd floor of the law firm's New York City headquarters to discuss the firm's finances. While most of them knew Dewey LeBoeuf faced challenging times, few were prepared for what they were soon to hear from their chairman, Steven Davis.

Using a PowerPoint slide show, Davis presented a grim picture: Of Dewey's approximately $250 million in net income for 2011, about half was committed to pension obligations to retired partners and compensation that was owed to certain partners for the two prior years. Just half the pie remained to distribute to disappointed partners.

The firm was living on the edge, Davis revealed. "You have to own this problem," he told stunned partners, according to a lawyer who attended. Davis declined to comment for this article.

full story at link - and what happened:

But certain things are clear. The collapse of Dewey leaves dozens of former partners unpaid, hundreds of associates and administrative staffers laid off - not to mention about 30 law students suddenly without a prestigious summer job. Creditors ranging from landlords to suppliers of paper to bondholders are starting to line up. The first of likely lawsuits against the firm - a case seeking class-action status on behalf of fired workers - has been filed in Manhattan federal court. And the name Dewey & LeBoeuf will serve as a cautionary tale for major law firms for a long while.

[Sabrina]

http://ricoforsheriff.com/irs-liens-and-levys
USA


IRS Liens and Levys
(The Federal Reserve Banks) aka the IRS-The Biggest Lie and Scam in World History

full story at link

When the Citizens of San Miguel County elect me as their new Sheriff in town, I will ban the IRS from San Miguel County, and if I catch an IRS agent within the boundaries of the county, without my permission, I will arrest them for TRESPASSING.

- Rico S. Giron, Future Sheriff of San Miguel County

[foreverfan]

Click Here For The Greatest Deception of All Time. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGS8re8cIVI&feature=related)

[Ba-ba-Ra]

http://ricoforsheriff.com/irs-liens-and-levys
USA


IRS Liens and Levys
(The Federal Reserve Banks) aka the IRS-The Biggest Lie and Scam in World History



full story at link

When the Citizens of San Miguel County elect me as their new Sheriff in town, I will ban the IRS from San Miguel County, and if I catch an IRS agent within the boundaries of the county, without my permission, I will arrest them for TRESPASSING.

- Rico S. Giron, Future Sheriff of San Miguel County


I hope he gets in for lots of reasons. It certainly will be interesting to see how it is played out.

[sygh]

My guess, Modwiz, is that this is the first visible sign in the collapse of the bazillion dollar derivatives market, scheduled to take down the current monetary system (for replacement with something worse, if the bastards get their way.) So - yes - for not having the funds they used to have - but by (evil) design.

The one thing that stood out when Alex Jones talked with Lindsey Williams on 3/25/12 was what he said about the derivative markets. Click here for the show. (http://www.infowars.com/timeline-to-americas-total-destruction-with-pastor-lindsey-williams/) (Look at 22:53 mark)



According to Lindsey after talking to Tom Fowler Wall Street Insider


When will collapse happen? "When derivatives begin to crack"

Just listened to this. Thanks for the info. Figured. That completely explains why the Frank-Dodd Act didn't get rid of hedge funds and derivatives like they should have. And why the Glass Steagall Act was taken out, and not re-instated.

[Hervé]

[...]

... And why the Glass Steagall Act was taken out, and not re-instated.

From good ole' Doc John Coleman in his "Committee of 300" book:




We are close to the point where the United States will send its military Forces to settle any and all disputes brought before the United Nations. Departing Secretary General Perez de Cuellar, heavily laden with bribe money, was the most compliant U.N. leader in history in granting demands of the United States without discussion. His successor will be even more inclined to go along with whatever the U.S. government places before him. This is an important step along the road to a One World Government.

The International Court of Justice at The Hague will be used in increasing measure in the next two years to settle legal arguments of all types.

It is of course the prototype for a One World Government legal system that will supplant all others. As for central banks, essential in the planning of the New World Order, this is already very much a fait-accompli with the Bank of International Settlements dominating the scene at the close of 1991. Private banks are fast disappearing in preparation for the Big Ten banks that will control banking the world over under the guidance of BIS and the IMF.


They are, quietly or not so, getting rid of the little guys...

[Sabrina]

Intriguing but discernment needed as always!

http://2012portal.blogspot.co.uk/2012_05_01_archive.html

12 May

Open Letter to Drake, David Wilcock, Benjamin Fulford, Bill Brockbrader and Kerry Cassidy

I am writing this letter in the name of all humanity. Humanity cries for freedom. Each day that passes, around 25,000 people die of hunger. Each day that the Cabal is allowed to exist, is a day of untold suffering for many. It is time for action.

It is time to forget our apparent differences and join forces in our fight for freedom. It is time to admit that nobody among us has total understanding and absolutely correct view of reality. If somebody has a different point of view, it does not mean he is automatically a disinfo agent. So it is time for each one of us to allow others to be who they are. We are all human beings. We all make mistakes. It is time now to forgive. And then join forces. United we stand, divided we fall.

This is a call from my heart to all key positive players in this cosmic drama of liberation of the last planet in the grip of the dark forces - planet Earth. We need to join forces, share resources and support each other. We need to create a coherent field of intent that will manifest through the masses of humanity. We need to show them with our example how the world can be set free.

I invite all five of you to a meeting in a location you can choose, where we can settle the differences, forgive, heal and then create a unified field of light, love and support. If such powerful and dedicated people meet in one place, many synchronicities can happen. United, we can design a strategy how we can best assist the liberation of the planet.

I know there are friends of all five above mentioned people reading my blog. Please pass this to them as they might be too busy to notice and read this on their own.

You can contact me if you are so guided at cobraresistance@gmail.com and we can coordinate things.

Victory of the Light!

[Sabrina]

As with Murdoch, don't think this story is going to go away any time soon.... energies love pushing up the untruths....:)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/18046848
12 May


JPMorgan Chase faces growing scrutiny


The bank's shares plunged by almost 10% on Friday, wiping $14bn from its value.

Democrat Congressman Barney Frank said the scale of the mistakes "blows up" the argument against tighter rules.

JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon said the losses resulted from a strategy of hedging that was supposed to protect the bank from risk.

But critics disputed his claims, alleging that such losses were more likely to have come from risky bets.

"This is not a hedge," said Democratic Senator Carl Levin, who helped frame the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act on financial regulation.

"This was a major bet on the direction of the economy, and when those kind of bets are lost, we all pay the price."

Other proponents of tighter rules also seized the chance to air their concerns about the regulatory system.

more at link

[Sabrina]

Europeans continue to protest at so called austerity measures...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18047618

Spain's 'Indignants' mark protest anniversary

Tens of thousands of protesters have gathered in Spanish cities to mark the first anniversary of the "Indignants" protest movement.

In central Madrid, protesters are still occupying Puerta del Sol square despite a midnight deadline to disperse.

The movement was formed out of anger at the impact of Spain's deepest economic crisis in decades.

Unemployment hit a record high in April and the government has recently announced fresh austerity measures.

The turnout in Madrid was huge and would certainly have met organisers' expectations, says Guy Hedgecoe, reporting for the BBC from Madrid.

Spanish authorities had said they wanted the protesters to disperse by midnight local time (22:00 GMT) but many thousands have defied the time limit.

more at link

[Sabrina]

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/359416/neda-chief-resigns


Manila 13 May


NEDA Chief Resigns
Paderanga Cites Health Reasons For Quitting
By JC BELLO RUIZ
May 13, 2012

Socio-economic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General Cayetano W. Paderanga Jr. has resigned, citing health reasons.

Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte announced Paderanga’s resignation in an interview yesterday on dzRB.

Valte said University of the Philippines School of Economics Dean Arsenio M. Balisacan is Paderanga’s temporary replacement.

Valte said President Benigno S. Aquino III accepted Paderanga’s resignation last May 10, but she could not immediately provide details.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://m.timesofindia.com/PDATOI/articleshow/13114047.cms


Yeddyurappa to send 40 resignations to Delhi
May 13 India

BANGALORE: Two more ministers will give their resignations to B S Yeddyurappa on Monday, agriculture minister Umesh Katti said on Saturday. Doddappagouda Patil, an MLA loyal to Yeddyurappa, said another 10 legislators would give their resignations to the former CM on Monday. Yeddyurappa plans to collect the resignations of at least 40 MLAs and send them to central leadership.

Apart from a BJP legislature party meeting, the dissidents want the central leadership to send a representative to Bangalore to hear their case.

The resignations are a pressure tactic to compel the central leadership to heed their demands. Technically, these resignations have no sanctity as the ministers have to submit their resignation letters to the CM, and MLAs to the Speaker.

and


BANGALORE: The ruling BJP in Karnataka plunged into a fresh crisis tonight after eight ministers offered to quit in support of the party strongman B S Yeddyurappa for leadership change amid indications the former chief minister was mulling quitting the state Assembly.
Amid reports that Yeddyurappa could also force a split in the party, the four-year-old BJP government faced a major threat when eight ministers handed over to him their letters of resignation addressed to Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, in a sudden development apparently in protest against the latter complaining against them to the party high command.

[Sabrina]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ios-exclusive-revealed--how-coulson-called-camerons-bluff-7742363.html

UK Leveson Enquiry

IoS exclusive: Revealed - how Coulson called Cameron's bluff


David Cameron was so anxious to secure the services of Andy Coulson as his director of communications that the Tory leader backed down on one of his key demands, it is revealed today.

In a sign of how Mr Coulson was in the driving seat over his controversial appointment, the former News of the World editor called the bluff of the Tory leader and George Osborne by refusing to sign a confidentiality clause as part of his appointment.

The move reveals for the first time the desperation of Mr Cameron, then Leader of the Opposition, and Mr Osborne, to win over the Murdoch empire as they manoeuvred to secure a general election victory.

As the Leveson inquiry prepares to hear more evidence this week about the relations between News International and the Tories, The Independent on Sunday has learnt that Rebekah Brooks and her husband spent a weekend at Dorneywood, the Chancellor's official residence, during a key period in the bid by News Corp to take over BSkyB.

The previously undisclosed "pyjama party", in 2010, which also featured Mr Coulson and his wife, Eloise, will add fuel to demands for the Chancellor to be called to give evidence to Leveson in person.

Mr Osborne is among eight cabinet ministers to be granted "core participant" status, allowing them privileged access to documents put before the inquiry, but he is the only minister of the group not scheduled to give evidence. Last night an aide to Mr Osborne said that the Chancellor had listed on the Treasury website a "social" engagement with Mrs Brooks in September 2010, even though full details of the Dorneywood weekend were not given. The aide said that Mr Osborne had been "absolutely transparent" in his dealings with News International figures.

more at link

[sygh]

JPMorgan reveals shock $2bn trading loss on investments

You've been busy tonight Sabrina :).


My sense is this loss is connected to them not having access to the funds they used to have, therefore profit is down because theft has been stymied. They are now scrambling to make excuses that sound WEAK! These parasites are left working with old blood that is losing its' oxygen. Ever heard a tick scream? You will soon.

My guess, Modwiz, is that this is the first visible sign in the collapse of the bazillion dollar derivatives market, scheduled to take down the current monetary system (for replacement with something worse, if the bastards get their way.) So - yes - for not having the funds they used to have - but by (evil) design.

(That's one big tick!)

Unfortunately, and I do mean that, I think Paul may be right. Now, I'm going to go ahead and say this... If Drake is at all legitimate, and I too hope he is because we do have a chance to stop this monster NWO at this juncture... I will stand with him. Have already signed Michael Tillinger's Petition to back his lien case against the South African Standard Bank, the Reserve Bank, and the Minister of Finance. Would like to see that go viral.

[sygh]

Oh and here's a link that might help people in the months to come when the poo hits the fan. With so many irons in the fire, this, to me sounds like a smart way to still be able to trade for goods.

https://www.freelakotabank.com/index.asp

[sygh]

[...]

... And why the Glass Steagall Act was taken out, and not re-instated.

From good ole' Doc John Coleman in his "Committee of 300" book:




We are close to the point where the United States will send its military Forces to settle any and all disputes brought before the United Nations. Departing Secretary General Perez de Cuellar, heavily laden with bribe money, was the most compliant U.N. leader in history in granting demands of the United States without discussion. His successor will be even more inclined to go along with whatever the U.S. government places before him. This is an important step along the road to a One World Government.

The International Court of Justice at The Hague will be used in increasing measure in the next two years to settle legal arguments of all types.

It is of course the prototype for a One World Government legal system that will supplant all others. As for central banks, essential in the planning of the New World Order, this is already very much a fait-accompli with the Bank of International Settlements dominating the scene at the close of 1991. Private banks are fast disappearing in preparation for the Big Ten banks that will control banking the world over under the guidance of BIS and the IMF.


They are, quietly or not so, getting rid of the little guys...

So, The International Court of Justice at The Hague will be settling disputes for the next couple of years... and how do we all think that's gonna go? Are we to surmise that the cards of justice will be stacked?

[Hervé]

[...]

So, The International Court of Justice at The Hague will be settling disputes for the next couple of years... and how do we all think that's gonna go? Are we to surmise that the cards of justice will be stacked?

I don't know if all of "we" can think of the way it's gona go beside in the direction of their elaborated plans in spite of said plans being way behind schedule. Said schedule being itself event driven rather than time stamped.

[Ba-ba-Ra]

Oh and here's a link that might help people in the months to come when the poo hits the fan. With so many irons in the fire, this, to me sounds like a smart way to still be able to trade for goods.

https://www.freelakotabank.com/index.asp

Interesting!! Has anyone on the forum or do they know anyone who has already had dealings with this bank?

[Sabrina]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18053577


13 May 2012

Yahoo chief executive Scott Thompson steps down

Yahoo has acknowledged Scott Thompson does not have a computer science degree
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

Pressure grows on head of Yahoo
Yahoo to cut 14% of its workforce
The chief executive of computer firm Yahoo has stepped down, amid accusations that a fake computer science degree was included on his CV.

The California-based company confirmed media reports that Scott Thompson had quit his post.

He has been replaced by Yahoo's global media head Ross Levinsohn.

The firm is also reportedly close to agreeing a truce with activist shareholder Daniel Loeb, who discovered Mr Thompson's mistake.

Mr Loeb, a hedge fund manager who lobbied for Mr Thompson's dismissal, is set to be appointed a company director.

Other new directors will also be appointed and Yahoo has named Fred Amoroso as the new chairman of its board.

Cost cutting
Yahoo has already acknowledged that Mr Thompson, who took up his post in January, does not have a computer science degree.

Just last month, the company, which is based in Sunnyvale, announced plans to make 2,000 employees redundant.

Mr Thompson had previously been the president of online payments firm Paypal since 2008.

He took over as chief executive from Tim Morse, who had held the role on an interim basis since Carol Bartz was sacked in September 2011 after two-and-a-half years in the post.

Since Mr Thompson joined Yahoo, he had been attempting to cut the firm's costs and improve its fortunes.

Part of this involved cutting 2,000 jobs, or 14% of the company's workforce, in a bid to save $375m(£233m) a year.

Besides its search engine, Yahoo's key products include the photo sharing site Flickr and its webmail platform.

[Sabrina]

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/13/us/colombia-us-secret-service/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

13 May USA

Public hearing scheduled on Secret Service prostitution scandal


(CNN) -- The Senate Homeland Security Committee has scheduled a public hearing on the prostitution scandal involving U.S. military and Secret Service agents in Colombia.
The hearing will take place May 23, Sen. Joe Lieberman, the committee chairman, told CNN's "State of the Union."

Lieberman's is one of four congressional committees looking into the incident.

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and Acting Inspector General Charles Edwards will testify, Lieberman said.

The committee will ask whether Sullivan is satisfied with the investigation into what occurred in Cartagena, Colombia, Lieberman said.

Secondly, Lieberman said, the committee will ask, "Were there indications before the Colombian scandal of behavior by Secret Service agents off duty on assignment that should have been a warning that this was coming?"

"And third, what are you going to do, Director Sullivan, to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again."

Two weeks ago, the committee sent Sullivan a list of questions to answer by Monday.
The incident, which transpired a month ago in advance of President Obama's trip to the Summit of the Americas, was "heartbreaking" and "dangerous," said Lieberman, an Independent from Connecticut.

It involved roughly 20 alleged prostitutes, and has so far resulted in the dismissal of nine Secret Service members.

Three other Secret Service agents were cleared of serious misconduct.
The military is investigating the alleged involvement of 12 service members.


Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has said there is no evidence the president's security was put at risk due to the incident. He noted that the president's schedule was not kept in the hotel rooms of any service members believed to be involved in the scandal.

Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said no classified information or weapons were present at the Hotel Caribe, where the alleged incident occurred.

Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, announced Sunday that he declined a request from one of the Colombian prostitutes that he meet with her.

An attorney for Dania Londono Suarez contacted the committee with the request, he said in a statement.

"While such a meeting -- and the inevitable circus atmosphere surrounding it -- would no doubt be of great interest to the media covering this story, a meeting with her is simply not necessary at this time for the committee to conduct a serious and thorough investigation. For now, I have directed my staff to communicate with and gather information about the misconduct from the woman via her attorney."

Secret Service investigators have interviewed her, King said.
Londono gave a lengthy, wide-ranging interview to Colombia's W Radio on Friday.

[Sabrina]

War Crimes Tribunal Finds Bush and Associates Guilty of Torture
OpEd News

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Bush-and-Associates-Found-by-Press-Release-120512-629.html

KUALA LUMPUR, 11 May 2012 – The five-panel tribunal unanimously delivered a guilty verdict against former United States President George W. Bush and his associates at the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal hearing that had started on Monday.

On the charge of Crime of Torture and War Crimes, the tribunal finds the accused persons — former U.S. President George W. Bush and his associates namely Richard Cheney, former U.S. Vice President; Donald Rumsfeld, former Defence Secretary; Alberto Gonzales, then Counsel to President Bush; David Addington, then General Counsel to the Vice-President; William Haynes II, then General Counsel to Secretary of Defence; Jay Bybee, then Assistant Attorney General; and John Choon Yoo, former Deputy Assistant Attorney-General — guilty as charged and convicted as war criminals for Torture and Cruel, Inhumane and Degrading Treatment of the Complainant War Crime Victims.

Earlier in the week, the tribunal heard the testimonies of three witnesses namely Abbas Abid, Moazzam Begg and Jameelah Hameedi. They related the horrific tortures they had faced during their incarceration. The tribunal also heard two other Statutory Declarations of Iraqi citizen Ali Shalal and Rhuhel Ahmed, a British citizen.

Testimony showed that Abbas Abid, a 48-year-old chief engineer in the Science and Technology Ministry had his fingernails removed by pliers. Ali Shalal was attached with bare electrical wires and electrocuted and hung from the wall. Moazzam Begg was beaten and put in solitary confinement. Jameelah was almost nude and humiliated, used as a human shield whilst being transported by helicopter. All these witnesses have residual injuries till today.

These witnesses were taken prisoners and held in prisons in Afghanistan (Bagram), in Iraq (Abu Gharib, Baghdad International Airport) and two of them namely Moazzam Begg and Rhuhel Ahmed were transported to Guantanamo Bay.

In a submission that lasted a day, the prosecution showed in an in depth submission how the decision-makers at the highest level President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, Secretary of Defence Rumsfeld, aided and abetted by the lawyers and the other commanders and CIA officials — all acted in concert. Torture was systematically applied and became an accepted norm.

According to the prosecution, the testimony of all the witnesses shows a sustained perpetration of brutal, barbaric, cruel and dehumanizing course of conduct against them. These acts of crimes were applied cumulatively to inflict the worst possible pain and suffering.

After hearing the defence of the Amicus Curiae and the subsequent rebuttal the prosecution, the tribunal ruled unanimously that there was a prima facie case made out by the prosecution.

After hours of deliberation, the tribunal, in the verdict that was read out by the president of the tribunal Tan Sri Dato Lamin bin Haji Mohd Yunus Lamin, found that the prosecution had established beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused persons, former President George Bush and his co-conspirators engaged in a web of instructions, memos, directives, legal advice and action that established a common plan and purpose, joint enterprise and/or conspiracy to commit the crimes of Torture and War Crimes, including and not limited to a common plan and purpose to commit the following crimes in relation to the “War on Terror” and the wars launched by the U.S. and others in Afghanistan and Iraq:

(a) Torture;
(b) Creating, authorizing and implementing a regime of Cruel, Inhumane, and
Degrading Treatment;
(c) Violating Customary International Law;
(d) Violating the Convention Against Torture 1984;
(e) Violating the Geneva Convention III and IV 1949;
(f) Violating the Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention of 1949.
(g) Violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Charter.

The Tribunal finds that the prosecution has established beyond a reasonable doubt that the Accused persons are individually and jointly liable for all crimes committed in pursuit of their common plan and purpose under principles established by Article 6 of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal (the Nuremberg Charter), which states, inter alia, “Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit war crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any person in execution of such plan.”

The Principles of the Nuremberg Charter and the Nuremberg Decision have been adopted as customary international law by the United Nations. The government of the United States is subject to customary international law and to the Principles of the Nuremburg Charter and the Nuremburg Decision.

The Tribunal finds that the prosecution has proven beyond reasonable doubt that the accused lawyers, gave “advice” that “the Geneva Conventions did not apply (to suspected al Qaeda and Taliban detainees); that there was no torture occurring within the meaning of the Torture Convention, and that enhanced interrogations techniques, (constituting cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment,) were permissible.”

The prosecution has also established beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused lawyers “knew full well their advice was being sought to be acted upon, and in fact was acted upon, and such advice paved the way for violations of international law, the Geneva Conventions and the Torture Convention.”

The accused lawyers’ advice was binding on the accused Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney, each of whom relied on the accused lawyers’ advice. Others, such as CIA Director George Tenet and Diane Beaver, officer in charge at Guantanamo, relied on the accused lawyers’ advice. The prosecution had established beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused lawyers are criminally liable for their acts, and for participating in a joint criminal enterprise.

The president read that the Tribunal orders that reparations commensurate with the irreparable harm and injury, pain and suffering undergone by the Complainant War Crime Victims be paid to the Complainant War Crime Victims. While it is constantly mindful of its stature as merely a tribunal of conscience with no real power of enforcement, the Tribunal finds that the witnesses in this case are entitled ex justitia to the payment of reparations by the eight convicted persons and their government.

It is the Tribunal’s hope that armed with the findings of this Tribunal, the witnesses will, in the near future, find a state or an international judicial entity able and willing to exercise jurisdiction and to enforce the verdict of this Tribunal against the 8 convicted persons and their government. The Tribunal’s award of reparations shall be submitted to the War Crimes Commission to facilitate the determination and collection of reparations by the Complainant War Crime Victims.

President Lamin read…

“As a tribunal of conscience, the Tribunal is fully aware that its verdict is merely declaratory in nature. The tribunal has no power of enforcement, no power to impose any custodial sentence on any one or more of the eight convicted persons. What we can do, under Article 31 of Chapter VI of Part 2 of the Charter is to recommend to the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission to submit this finding of conviction by the Tribunal, together with a record of these proceedings, to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, as well as the United Nations and the Security Council.

“The Tribunal also recommends to the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission that the names of all the eight convicted persons be entered and included in the Commission’s Register of War Criminals and be publicized accordingly.

“The Tribunal recommends to the War Crimes Commission to give the widest international publicity to this conviction and grant of reparations, as these are universal crimes for which there is a responsibility upon nations to institute prosecutions if any of these Accused persons may enter their jurisdictions.”

For further information, please contact

Dato’ Dr Yaacob Merican
Secretary General of the KLWCC Secretariat
Tel: +6012-227 8680

Ms Malkeet Kaur
Media Representative of KLWCC
malkeet@dbook.com.my
Tel: +6012-3737 886

The Tribunal Members
Tan Sri Dato Lamin bin Haji Mohd Yunus,
Mr Alfred Lambremont Webre
Tunku Sofiah Jewa
Prof Salleh Buang
Mr Alfred Lambremont Webre
Datuk Mohd Sa’ari Yusof.

The Prosecution
Prof Gurdial S Nijar
Prof Francis Boyle
Mr Avtaran Singh
Ms Gan Pei Fern

Amicus Curiae (appointed Defence team)
Mr Jason Kay
Dr Mohd Hisham
Dr Abbas Hardani
Ms Galoh Nursafinas

The Charge



Crime of Torture and War Crimes against former U.S. President George W. Bush and his associates namely Richard Cheney, former U.S. Vice President; Donald Rumsfeld, former Defence Secretary; Alberto Gonzales, then Counsel to President Bush; David Addington, then General Counsel to the Vice-President; William Haynes II, then General Counsel to Secretary of Defence; Jay Bybee, then Assistant Attorney General; and John Choon Yoo, former Deputy Assistant Attorney-General.

The Tribunal will adjudicate and evaluate the evidence presented on facts and law as in any court of law. The judges of the Tribunal must be satisfied that the charge is proven beyond reasonable doubt and deliver a reasoned judgement. The verdict and the names of the persons found guilty will be entered in the Commission’s Register of War Criminals and publicised worldwide.

About Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC)
The KLFCW established the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (The Commission), to investigate cases of war crimes that have been neglected by established institutions such as the International Criminal Court. The Commission seeks to influence world opinion on the illegality of wars and occupation undertaken by major Western powers.

The aim of The Commission is thereby to hold perpetrators of war crimes accountable for their actions especially when relevant international judicial organs fail to do so.

The Commission

The commission’s function is to:

i) receive complaints from any victim(s) of any conflict on:

(a) Crimes against peace
(b) Crimes against humanity
(c) Crimes of genocide
(d) War crimes

ii) investigate the same and prepare a report of its findings. To further call for more evidence or where The Commission is satisfied to recommend prosecution

The Legal Team

The legal team’s aim is to present the complaints of victim(s) of any conflict and to act on the recommendation of The Commission’s report and to frame charges and prosecute accused person(s).

The Tribunal

The Tribunal shall adjudicate on the charges filed against the accused person(s) The applicable standard of proof shall be beyond reasonable doubt.

About the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War (KLFCW)

Malaysia’s fourth Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad founded the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalize War (KLFCW), a non-governmental organisation established under the laws of Malaysia on 12 March 2007.

The main objectives of the Foundation, as stated in its Statutes are, inter alia:

1. To undertake all necessary measures and initiatives to criminalise war and energise peace;

2. To provide relief, assistance and support to individuals and communities who are suffering from the effects of war and armed conflict wherever occurring and without discrimination on the grounds of nationality, racial origin, religion, belief, age, gender or other forms of impermissible differentiations;

3. To promote the education of individuals and communities suffering from the effects of war or armed conflict;

4. To foster schemes for the relief of human suffering occasioned by war or armed conflict;

5. To provide for mechanisms or procedures in attainment of the above purposes.


“WHY is it that the murder of one man is considered a criminal act whereas the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent people committed in wars, is not considered so?” -Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
–
Dirk Adriaensens
Member BRussells Tribunal Executive Committee

[Sabrina]

Eurozone woes:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/9263181/Angela-Merkel-setback-as-austerity-agenda-rejected-in-Germanys-biggest-state.html


Angela Merkel setback as austerity agenda rejected in Germany's biggest state
Angela Merkel suffered a major blow last night after voters in Germany's biggest region decisively rejected her austerity policies in a defeat that will weaken her on the European stage.

The German Chancellor had hoped to kick out a weak Red-Green coalition in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia but the region's 13 million voters decided otherwise.

According to exit polls, the Social Democrats won 39 per cent of the vote, enough to form a stable majority with the Greens, who scored 12 per cent.

Chancellor Merkel's Christian Democrats saw their support plunge to just 26 per cent, down from nearly 35 per cent in 2010, and the worst result in the state since World War Two
The crushing defeat follows elections that rejected austerity policies in Greece, France and Italy, severely weakening Chancellor Merkel's hand at her first talks with Francois Hollande, the new French President, in Berlin on Tuesday.

In a contest that mirrored the debate in the eurozone between "growth" and austerity, she presented the vote as a battle between "thrifty" Christian Democrats and "ever more debt" run up by the Left.

The rejection of her austerity economics at home will strengthen President Hollande's demand that the fiscal pact reached by all EU states with the exception of Britain and the Czech Republic should be redrafted to allow more room for higher spending centre-Left policies.

The Berlin meeting, taking place just hours after the Paris inauguration of France's first Socialist president for two decades, will be tense as Mr Hollande demands a rethink of policies closely associated with Mrs Merkel and Germany.
more at link

and

Greece faces 'moment of truth' as talks stall
Greek political leaders ignored a final plea on Sunday from the president to form a coalition government to avert a repeat election, pushing the debt-stricken nation closer to bankruptcy and a possible exit from the eurozone.

and

Soldiers may be deployed to protect Italian tax offices
Soldiers may be brought in to protect Italian tax offices and other sensitive sites following an increase in violence as the country struggles through austerity measures.

[Sabrina]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2143830/Clamour-George-Osborne-appear-Leveson-intensifies-revelations-hosted-Brooks-Coulson-country-estate.html

13 May UK
Leveson Inquiry

George Osborne hosted Brooks and Coulson at his country estate: Pressure grows on Chancellor to appear at Leveson

Murdoch allies are said to have spent the weekend at Dorneywood while BSkyB bid was being evaluated

George Osborne is under intense pressure to attend the Leveson inquiry in person following revelations that he entertained Rebekah Brooks at his country estate while Rupert Murdoch was planning his bid for BSkyB.

News of the media mogul's proposed £8bn takeover first broke in June 2010, and it was early November when News Corp told the European Commission of its plans.

In September 2010, Mrs Brooks spent the weekend at the Chancellor's grace and favour estate along with former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who was then David Cameron's director of communications.

and on Rebekah Brooks' testimony:

Former PM became 'incredibly aggressive and angry' after front page story about spelling mistakes in letter to mother of dead soldier
Quizzed over claims that Tony Blair fed her damaging stories about Brown
Admits David Cameron, George Osborne, William Hague, Theresa May and Tony Blair sent her messages of support after she quit in wake of phone hacking scandal
But Brown would have 'hung out the bunting' at the news she says
Cameron apologised for cutting her loose and said: 'Sorry I couldn’t have been as loyal to you as you have been to me, but Ed Miliband has me on the run'
The pair 'signed off messages to each other with kisses'
Met Tony Blair 30 times for dinner between 1997 and 2007
Cherie Blair complained about 'sexist' coverage and 'cruelty' about weight
Sun had 'consent' from Browns to run story about son having cystic fibrosis
But Browns deny volunteering any information to paper


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2142810/Leveson-Inquiry-Rebekah-Brooks-expected-reveal-details-cosy-relationship-David-Cameron.html#ixzz1unA6v700

[Sabrina]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/14/business/jpmorgan-chase-executive-to-resign-in-trading-debacle.html
13 May
JPMorgan Loss Claims Official Who Oversaw Trading Unit

The $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase will claim its first casualty among top officials at the bank as early as Monday, with chief executive Jamie Dimon set to accept the resignation of the executive who oversaw the trade, Ina R. Drew. Ms. Drew, a 55-year-old banker who has worked at the company for three decades and serves as chief investment officer, had repeatedly offered to resign since the scale of the loss became apparent in late April, but Mr. Dimon had held off until now on accepting it, several JPMorgan Chase executives said.

Two traders who worked for Ms. Drew also planned to resign, JPMorgan Chase officials said. Her exit would mark a stunning fall from grace for one of the most powerful women on Wall Street, as well as a trusted lieutenant of Mr. Dimon.

Last year, Ms. Drew earned roughly $14 million, making her the bank’s fourth-highest highest paid officer. In an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Mr. Dimon sounded a contrite note: the famously confident, even cocky, executive repeated his apologies for the most embarrassing blunder of his eight-year tenure at the top of the largest bank in the United States. “There’s almost no excuse for it,” Mr. Dimon said about the trading loss that stemmed from a soured bet on credit derivatives made by the bank’s chief investment office in London. The bank was “sloppy” and “stupid,” Mr. Dimon said.

Executives said that within the last several months, Ms. Drew told traders at the bank’s chief investment office to execute trades meant to shield the bank from the turmoil in Europe. As the problems deepened on the Continent, Ms. Drew thought those bets could protect the bank from losses and even earn a tidy profit, these employees said.

But when market tides abruptly shifted in April and early May, Ms. Drew’s instructions to traders to scale back what had become a gigantic bet came too late to avoid racking up losses that could eventually exceed the current $2 billion estimate.

Ms. Drew isn’t the only one under fire for the bank’s blunder. Also under scrutiny is Bruno Iksil, the trader in London who gained notoriety last month as “the whale, “ because the positions he assembled were so large that they distorted corners of the complex market for credit derivatives.

A skilled trader who once said she relishes a crisis, Ms. Drew had become a liability for Mr. Dimon, whose announcement of the trading debacle shocked Wall Street last week, caused JPMorgan’s shares to plunge 9.3 percent in trading Friday

Ms. Drew had a steady ascent after she joined Chemical Bank, one of the predecessor companies at JPMorgan Chase, in 1982.

Former senior-level executives at JPMorgan said it was a shame that Ms. Drew has ended up suffering much of the fallout from the soured trade. They said that Thursday’s announcement of the $2 billion loss was the first real misstep that Ms. Drew has had and said that the position was not meant to drum up bigger profits for the bank, but rather to ensure that JPMorgan could continue to hold lending positions in Europe.

“This is killing her,” a former JP Morgan executive said, adding “in banking there are very large knives.” Another former executive said that the loss was unfortunately timed because it crystallized opposition to bank behavior and was being seized upon by regulators.

To appease regulators and shareholders, former executives said, Ms. Drew was clearly feeling pressure to resign. “The bank has taken bigger losses in investment banking and elsewhere, but because of the timing, she is being piled upon as this huge failure,”a former senior executive said.

and



So where does the karma come in? The loss, and the embarrassment it held for Jamie Dimon, the bank’s imperious chief executive, came just one month after a private dinner party in Dallas at which he assailed two respected public figures who have pushed for policies that would make banks like JPMorgan smaller and less risky.

One was Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman, whose remedy for risky trading by too-big-to-fail banks is known as the Volcker Rule. The other was Richard W. Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, who has also argued that large institutions should be slimmed down or limited in their risky trading practices.

The party, sponsored by JPMorgan for a group of its wealthy private clients, took place at the sumptuous Mansion on Turtle Creek hotel. Mr. Dimon was on hand to thank the guests for their patronage and their trust.

During the party, Mr. Dimon took questions from the crowd, according to an attendee who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of alienating the bank. One guest asked about the problem of too-big-to-fail banks and the arguments made by Mr. Volcker and Mr. Fisher.

Mr. Dimon responded that he had just two words to describe them: “infantile” and “nonfactual.” He went on to lambaste Mr. Fisher further, according to the attendee. Some in the room were taken aback by the comments.

Neither Mr. Fisher nor Mr. Volcker would comment on the remarks. But it appears to have been a classic performance from Mr. Dimon. In-your-face. Pugnacious. My way or the highway.

[Muzz]

You might have already caught this one Sabrina but i'll post in case not.

JPMorgan execs expected to leave over loss

(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co is expected this week to accept the resignation of Chief Investment Officer Ina Drew after the bank lost $2 billion or more with a failed hedging strategy using derivatives, sources close to the matter said on Sunday.

Two of Drew's subordinates who were involved with the trades, Achilles Macris and Javier Martin-Artajo, are expected to be asked to leave, according to the people familiar with the matter.

link (http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/05/13/uk-jpmorgan-departures-idUKBRE84C0EV20120513)

update - aha you were onto it as expected :)

[Sabrina]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57433382/warren-jpmorgan-ceo-should-resign-from-ny-fed/

13 May

Warren: JPMorgan CEO should resign from NY Fed

(CBS/AP) Democratic U.S. Sen. hopeful Elizabeth Warren is calling on the CEO of JPMorgan to resign from the Board of Directors of the New York Federal Reserve Bank after the largest bank in the U.S. claimed a surprise $2 billion loss by one of its trading groups.

Warren, who is challenging Republican Sen. Scott Brown for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy's former seat, helped create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She says in a statement Saturday that Americans are frustrated that Wall Street has not been held accountable for one of the biggest financial crisis in generations and doesn't appear to consider itself responsible.

[transiten]

It's 02.00 in Gothenburg and i can't fall asleep. I'm too ill to be able to follow any thread properly but could someone illuminate me over the fact that Sabrina constantly posts about pple stepping down and resigning from power and banks loosing money and noone is connecting this to other threads and posts here on Avalon. Seems to be some schizophrenia in this community. Isn't there any connection or is it only my inability to connect the dots?

[A Simple Human]

It's 02.00 in Gothenburg and i can't fall asleep. I'm too ill to be able to follow any thread properly but could someone illuminate me over the fact that Sabrina constantly posts about pple stepping down and resign from power and banks loosing money and noone is connecting this to other threads and posts here on Avalon. Seems to be some schizophrenia in this community. Isn't there any connection or is it only my inability to connect the dots?

@ transiten,

Obviously the secret information, needed by the members of this forum or the general public to accurately connect the dots, is not readily available for our review; however, there are two prevailing lines of thought regarding the resignation information provided in this thread:

1. The resignations represent a consolidation of power, and complete one more phase of the Cabal's NWO agenda to completely enslave humanity.

or

2. The resignations represent a positive transition for humanity, and demonstrate the Cabal members are stepping down out of fear in light of humanity's awakening.

Regardless of one's beliefs, I think it's undeniable that (positive and/or negative) changes are taking place at an accelerated rate. There are also many intriguing posts in the News and Updates forums (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/forumdisplay.php?20-News-and-Updates) and sub-forums. I thank Sabrina for keeping Avalon apprised of the latest developments. I feel that she's done a terrific job so far, and I don't understand why this thread has been given a four star rating instead of five. Haters, I guess!

Lyme Disease: I offer my condolence on your illness. I strongly suggest that you talk to your doctor about taking an undenatured (non-denatured) protein (http://www.protein-powder-review.com/undenatured-whey-protein.html) powder to boost your glutathione (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutathione) levels while cycling or after cycling antibiotics. There are several viable brands on the market if you can find them. Immunocal® (http://www.immunocal.com/IRL/Public/en/USA/ShowItemDetails.wcp??&Item=00010000&site=999999) is actually listed in the Physician's Desk Reference (http://www.pdr.net/drugpages/productlabeling.aspx?mpcode=38711000) to treat disease, and you can also check out IMUPlus® (http://www.imuplus.com/product_info.htm) and ImmunoPro® Rx (http://www.allergyresearchgroup.com/ImmunoPro-Rx-300-grams-pwd-p-111.html).

I can not vouch for the authenticity of the claims made in the following article, but I do feel it lends credence to utilizing undenatured whey protein to aid in the recovery/maintenance of Lyme Disease since undenatured whey protein is essentially a super concentrate of raw milk. The Milk Cure for Healing Lyme Disease (http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/the-milk-cure-for-healing-lyme-disease/) ** I do not recommend going on a strictly raw milk diet**

For the record, I have never been diagnosed with Lyme Disease; although, I have taken both Immunocal® and IMUPlus® when I was younger to treat Ulcerative Colitis (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001296/) (Inflammatory Bowel Disease). I was told by the gastroenterologist that my symptoms would persist my entire life, and that I would have to be on constant medication. I presented the doctor with a big "F' you", and decided that I was going to cure myself. I was only on medication for about six months. I subsequently took undenatured whey protein powder, and fortunately I've never had regularly reoccurring symptoms. That episode was over ten years ago. Now I just have to maintain a healthy diet and supplement regimen, and I'm good to go. So I can tell you firsthand that supplementing with undenatured whey protein works. The problem is that it is expensive!

Check with your doctor and see what he/she says.

Get well,

A.S.H.

[transiten]

Thanks a lot A Simple Human!

Yes when you mention it i've seen those 2 different perspectives and now i see why Sabrina and this thread hasn't got more approval! (Whether you agree or not she really is making a tremendous job as you say) Also before my diagnosis 1 week ago after having had symptoms for 8 months i actually took glutathione and glutamine prescribed by a kineseolog and herbal therapist, but he wasn't able to diagnose me with Lymedisease. I just called him up and he says that my main problem is parasites...

Namaste fom transiten

[Taurean]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57433382/warren-jpmorgan-ceo-should-resign-from-ny-fed/

13 May

Warren: JPMorgan CEO should resign from NY Fed

(CBS/AP) Democratic U.S. Sen. hopeful Elizabeth Warren is calling on the CEO of JPMorgan to resign from the Board of Directors of the New York Federal Reserve Bank after the largest bank in the U.S. claimed a surprise $2 billion loss by one of its trading groups.

Did Lindsey Williams predict that when the Derivatives market started to crack would be the trigger for the Collapse ?

[Sabrina]

Via Global Resignations Facebook site (English translation of Italian article):


UNDER INVESTIGATION THE 3rd ITALIAN BANK MONTE DEI PASCHI SIENA (MPS) FOR 1.5B SCAM


Even if the international press seems to ignore the case, since May 9th 2012 there is a big buzz about a task force of over hundred and fifty (150!) agents, currently making inspections and seizures of any kind of document in the main HQ of the above bank and its branchs: in the focus of the investigation there is the suspicious acquisition of Antonveneta Padova, a minor bank of 2.3 billion euros value, bought from Santander at the price of 9.3 billion euros.

Also investigated excellent names that control the foundation: Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Intesa Sanpaolo.

Other inspections were made by these days in Milan, Rome and Mantua.
Source: http://bit.ly/KbYvrf — at Siena.

[Sabrina]

From her website - USA:

Elizabeth Warren Calls on JP Morgan Chief to Resign from NY Federal Reserve Bank Board

Says Responsibility and Accountability Long Overdue

Architect of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Warren Continues Challenging Wall Street Arrogance

BOSTON, MA - In the wake of $2 billion in losses at JP Morgan Chase due to risky trading, Elizabeth Warren, the architect of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, today called on Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan's CEO, to resign from his position on the Board of Directors of the New York Federal Reserve Bank as a first step to signal to the American people that Wall Street understands the need for greater responsibility and accountability.

"Wall Street banks continue to have fundamental problems, and tough oversight and accountability are urgently needed. Jamie Dimon deserves credit for taking public responsibility for $2 billion in losses based on a trading strategy he called 'poorly reviewed,' 'poorly monitored,' and even 'sloppy.' But Dimon is not only the CEO of JP Morgan, he is also a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, where he advises the Federal Reserve on the oversight of the financial industry," Warren said.

"After the biggest financial crisis in generations, the American people are frustrated that Wall Street has still not been held accountable and does not appear to consider itself responsible. Dimon should resign from his post at the New York Fed to send a signal to the American people that Wall Street bankers get it and to show that they understand the need for responsibility and accountability," Warren said.

Dimon has fought against Wall Street reform regulations, including the Volcker Rule, which restricts certain kinds of speculative trades that increase risk in the banking system. Dimon also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Among other things, board members are involved in overseeing the Reserve Bank, participating in the development of credit and monetary policies, and ensuring effective internal auditing systems.

Warren is widely credited with the idea for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and she served as Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury in 2010 and 2011, with the authority to set up the consumer agency. Time Magazine named her one of the "New Sheriffs of Wall Street" for her clear and fearless oversight efforts during the financial crisis on behalf of the American people, and the Boston Globe named her Bostonian of the Year in 2009.

[Sabrina]

Interesting times in Europe - a big fight back on the so called austerity measures - in addition to JP Morgan triggering off calls to clean up the financial world's act.... and the Venus transit this week :)

http://rt.com/news/pirate-party-support-merkel-186/
14 May Germany

Germany’s infamous Pirate Party took 8 per cent of the vote in the country’s biggest state, making it the third region where they have parliamentary seats. With the national elections set for 2013, could these political buccaneers threaten Merkel?

"We have written history today," said Michele Marsching, chairman of the state chapter of the Pirates, in tears of joy. “Now it is time to party, politics should be fun!" he added.

The Pirates won the support of voters in the parliament of Schleswig-Holstein in the North of Germany on Sunday, the same day that Merkel faced an embarrassing defeat against opposition in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The unorthodox party has enjoyed growing popularity throughout Germany recently, capitalizing on the votes of Germans disgruntled with Angela Merkel’s harsh austerity measures.

The chancellor’s ruling Christian Democrats party has lost popularity recently, with support plunging from 34.6 per cent in 2010 to 26.5 per cent this year.

Political analysts have estimated that around 25 percent of the Pirates’ support comes from previous non-voters, while they have also wooed supporters of Germany’s Green Party.

The party has championed itself as offering “basic democracy” and making decisions that the people really want.
The Pirates base their political philosophy around what they have dubbed “liquid democracy”, which proposes a radical change in policy-making.

It is a system whereby policy suggestions are made through online forums known as “Pirate Pads,” the suggestions are then circulated through chat rooms and discussed before being made policy.

The Pirate movement started in Sweden in 2006 where it currently has two MPs and takes its name from the dispute over internet copyright. The group stands for freedom to share and download source material on the web, which the owners of copyright and intellectual property classify as piracy.

The party still has no members in the national parliament, but growing support at a state level could be a precursor to a representative in the German Bundestag.


and


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/14/markets-bonds-euro-idUSL5E8GE1GJ20120514
14 May
EURO GOVT-Greek impasse sends German Bunds to record highs

* German regional vote outcome adds to unease over debt crisis

* Italian borrowing costs set to rise at bond auction

* Spanish yields rise to 6.20 percent; nerves stretched before auctions

By Emelia Sithole-Matarise

LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) - German Bund futures hit record highs on Monday after weekend talks to form a new Greek government failed, sapping demand for riskier assets and propelling Spanish and Italian government bond yields higher.

The refusal by a major leftist party to join a unity government put Athens closer to the brink of bankruptcy and possibly to an exit from the euro bloc.

German Bund futures rose as much as 75 ticks on the day to an all time high of 143.52 with Germany 10-year yields plumbing a record low of 1.451 percent.

Greece's political stalemate and Spain's ailing banking sector heightened investor fears about a fresh eruption of the euro zone debt crisis, hiking Spanish 10-year yields 18 basis points to 6.21 percent.

Beyond 6 percent, Spain's borrowing costs accelerate towards unaffordable levels as happened in Ireland and Portugal, raising the prospect that the European Central Bank will revive its bond buying programme.

"There's a real risk for the market that as some point Greece will have to leave the euro if they don't find political cohesion...This will add to the contagion in the market and the countries that will suffer more are Spain and Italy," ING strategist Alessandro Giansanti said.

"If Spanish yields go above 6.5 percent the ECB will have to calm the market to try and cap the level of yields because we don't want to go into a situation where Spain's yields are sky-rocketing to 7 percent."

Spain and Italy remain at the forefront of the crisis and bond auctions this week are straining investor nerves. Investors worry that demand from Spanish banks for the country's debt which has helped it meet almost half its 2012 funding needs, could be torpedoed as the sector comes under pressure to clean up bad real estate loans.

Italy, whose yields rose 21 bps to 5.89 percent, kicks off euro zone debt supply with an auction of 4.5 billion euro of bonds later in the day. Its domestic banks - seen as healthier than their Spanish counterparts - are expected to support the sale.

Spain sold 2.9 billion euros of 12- and 18-month bills, with yields rising compared with previous sales.

PRESERVING CAPITAL

With capital preservation paramount in investors' minds, German yields are expected to push even lower in coming sessions.

Adding to safe-haven demand, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives suffered a crushing defeat on Sunday in an election in Germany's most populous state. This could embolden the opposition to step up attacks on her European austerity policies.

"I don't see a lot of positive news for risk this morning. Time is running out for (Greece). It's all a bit of a mess," a trader said. "We'll see another record high for Bunds...The talk around Greece leaving the euro is becoming far more public. It's a definite risk."

[Sabrina]

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/may/14/jpmorgan-exec-expected-to-resign/

14 May

JPMorgan exec expected to resign
Chief investment officer’s departure follows $2 billion loss

NEW YORK – JPMorgan Chase is expected to accept the resignation of one of the highest-ranking women on Wall Street after the bank lost $2 billion in a trading blunder, a person familiar with the matter said Sunday.

The bank will accept the resignation of Ina Drew, its chief investment officer, the person told the Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the decision publicly. (interesting way of leaking it to press agency.. without official spokesman from JPM.....perhaps they are being told!)...

Drew, 55, one of the highest-paid officials at JPMorgan Chase, had offered to resign several times since CEO Jamie Dimon disclosed the trading loss on Thursday, the person said. Pressure built on the bank over the weekend to accept.

At least two other executives at the bank will be held accountable for the mistake, the person said.

The casualties come as JPMorgan, the largest bank in the United States, seeks to minimize the damage caused by the $2 billion loss. Investors shaved almost 10 percent off JPMorgan’s stock price on Friday.

Dimon has said the mistake will complicate the efforts of banks to fight certain regulatory changes three years after the financial crisis.

JPMorgan’s disclosure has led lawmakers and critics of the banking industry to call for stricter regulation of Wall Street. Many post-crisis rules governing risk-taking by banks are still being written.

[modwiz]

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/13/us/colombia-us-secret-service/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

13 May USA

Public hearing scheduled on Secret Service prostitution scandal


(CNN) -- The Senate Homeland Security Committee has scheduled a public hearing on the prostitution scandal involving U.S. military and Secret Service agents in Colombia.
The hearing will take place May 23, Sen. Joe Lieberman, the committee chairman, told CNN's "State of the Union."

Lieberman's is one of four congressional committees looking into the incident.

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and Acting Inspector General Charles Edwards will testify, Lieberman said.

The committee will ask whether Sullivan is satisfied with the investigation into what occurred in Cartagena, Colombia, Lieberman said.

Secondly, Lieberman said, the committee will ask, "Were there indications before the Colombian scandal of behavior by Secret Service agents off duty on assignment that should have been a warning that this was coming?"

"And third, what are you going to do, Director Sullivan, to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again."

Two weeks ago, the committee sent Sullivan a list of questions to answer by Monday.
The incident, which transpired a month ago in advance of President Obama's trip to the Summit of the Americas, was "heartbreaking" and "dangerous," said Lieberman, an Independent from Connecticut.

It involved roughly 20 alleged prostitutes, and has so far resulted in the dismissal of nine Secret Service members.

Three other Secret Service agents were cleared of serious misconduct.
The military is investigating the alleged involvement of 12 service members.


Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has said there is no evidence the president's security was put at risk due to the incident. He noted that the president's schedule was not kept in the hotel rooms of any service members believed to be involved in the scandal.

Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said no classified information or weapons were present at the Hotel Caribe, where the alleged incident occurred.

Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, announced Sunday that he declined a request from one of the Colombian prostitutes that he meet with her.

An attorney for Dania Londono Suarez contacted the committee with the request, he said in a statement.

"While such a meeting -- and the inevitable circus atmosphere surrounding it -- would no doubt be of great interest to the media covering this story, a meeting with her is simply not necessary at this time for the committee to conduct a serious and thorough investigation. For now, I have directed my staff to communicate with and gather information about the misconduct from the woman via her attorney."

Secret Service investigators have interviewed her, King said.
Londono gave a lengthy, wide-ranging interview to Colombia's W Radio on Friday.

Gordon Duff says this story about prostitutes is a cover story for the arrest of SS agents who were part of an assassination attempt on Obama. It appears our ally in the ME is tired of the the resistance they have been getting form the president on a few issues. We all know the allegiance of cretins like Lieberman and McCain. Well, those of us paying attention do. This is more theater for a cover-up.

[transiten]

On DC daven has made similar research in the "The trillion dollar Dragon family lawsuit " on page 14 post 136 and 137. Discussion: Divine Cosmos.

[Kimberley]

This is interesting news!


Warren calls for JPMorgan CEO to resign from NY Fed

By David Edwards
Monday, May 14, 2012 9:44 EDT


Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D) is calling for JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon to resign from his position at the New York Federal Reserve Bank to acknowledge that he was in a position of trust after his company revealed that it had recently lost $2 billion as a result of bad bets on derivatives.

Full article here:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/14/warren-calls-for-jpmorgan-ceo-to-resign-from-ny-fed/

[Sabrina]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57433382/warren-jpmorgan-ceo-should-resign-from-ny-fed/

13 May

Warren: JPMorgan CEO should resign from NY Fed

(CBS/AP) Democratic U.S. Sen. hopeful Elizabeth Warren is calling on the CEO of JPMorgan to resign from the Board of Directors of the New York Federal Reserve Bank after the largest bank in the U.S. claimed a surprise $2 billion loss by one of its trading groups.

Did Lindsey Williams predict that when the Derivatives market started to crack would be the trigger for the Collapse ?


Makes sense doesn't it. Squeezing 'their' money supply.... :)

¤=[Post Update]=¤

More unraveling....

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/05/201251414361796590.html
14 May
World stocks plunge on Greece concerns
Global markets drop sharply with investors nervous over political uncertainty in Greece and possible regional fallout.

World stock markets have dropped sharply, as worries intensified over the condition of the eurozone and whether Greece is edging toward exiting the single currency union.

In Athens, Greek party leaders on Sunday struggled for an eighth day to form a coalition government.

As the political wrangling dragged on, markets contemplated the threat that the crisis-stricken country would not meet the terms of its bailout and drop out of the currency club.

"Markets continue to feel the pressure and the stakes continue to rise as what was declared unthinkable a year ago or so now starts to permeate mainstream thinking in Europe," said Michael Hewson of CMC Markets.

European stocks tumbled to four-month lows. Britain's FTSE 100 fell two per cent to 5,461 points and Germany's DAX tumbled 2.3 per cent to 6,431. France's CAC-40 lost 2.5 per cent to 3,052.

Dow plummets

Wall Street followed, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 107 points to 12,712 and the S&P 500 losing 13 points to 1,340.

Shares in JPMorgan Chase were down another 4.6 per cent after its chief investment officer resigned in the wake of a $2bn trading debacle.

Taking the hardest hits were the Athens Stock Exchange, which saw shares drop 4.4 per cent, and Spain's Ibex, which fell 3.1 per cent on continuing concerns that the country's crippled economy would not be able to keep control of its borrowing costs.

Problems in Europe, which also included a loss in a state election for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, and the possible implications for her austerity policies, overshadowed news that China's central bank had cut bank reserve requirements by 50 basis points to encourage lending.

Asian stocks also endured losses, although one notable exception was Japan, where the benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2 per cent to close at 8,973.84.

'Unstable' market

Investors' concern about China's economic outlook did not appear to ease despite the Chinese central bank's decision to cut the reserve requirement, which is expected to free up more than $63.4bn in financing.

"The market will remain unstable in the near term,'' said Zhang Yang, an analyst at Sinolink Securities, based in Shanghai.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was down $1.72 to $94.42 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $0.95 cents to settle at $96.13 in New York on Friday.

[Sabrina]

We've talked about the big events coming up - G8, Nato Summit, Bilderberg Conference - and there's hints that these would be ideal venues for arrests. Now some of 'the people' are voicing their distrust about these organisations. Going to get more interesting...

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/05/11/nato-heads-for-chicago/

NATO Heads for Chicago

A $100 million NATO invasion is coming. Low intensity conflict may follow. The “City of Broad Shoulders” may get more than it bargained for.

Nelson Algren once called Chicago the “City on the Make.” NATO’s May 20/21 “on the make” invasion isn’t welcome.
Chicago NATO.org announced an Obama-hosted “diplomatic summit.” Thousands plan protests against it.

The Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty issued a statement, saying:

“The city has carried out a campaign to intimidate and vilify protesters, claiming that protests lead to violence. In fact, the main source of violence in the world today is the wars being waged by NATO and the US.”

“We will march in May during the NATO meeting to deliver our message: Jobs, Housing, Healthcare, Education, Our Pensions, the Environment: Not War!”

“We and tens of thousands will be in the streets that day for a family friendly rally and march, with cries so loud they will be heard in Camp David and across the globe. We will be in the streets that day to fight for our future, and speak out against the wars and their cutbacks are designed to benefit the 1% at the expense of the 99% of the world.”

Last August, dozens of activists from 73 organizations met to plan large protests and marches when NATO arrives. United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) coordinator Joe Lombado said “(t)he entire world will be watching us.”

NATO doesn’t foster democratic values, liberation, and peace. It’s about wars, death, destruction and human misery. It requires draconian austerity and soaring debt to support it. A Chicago-style welcome awaits.

Organization representatives fear large scale crackdowns before and during protest demonstrations. Those involved plan to repudiate confrontations. They’ll also stand up for their constitutional rights.

Dozens of NATO heads of state and other top officials plan attending. Large delegations are coming with them. So are similar partner nation contingents.

The Chicago Tribune and Sun Times reported on elaborate security preparations. Hundreds of state police and National Guard forces are involved. So aren’t thousands of Chicago cops.

Secret Service staff also will be out in force. The ACLU said they’ll set up a security perimeter around McCormick Place. Part of Lake Shore Drive will be closed. It’s one of the city’s main arteries.

Enormous amounts of anti-scale steel fencing will be erected. Thousands of linear feet of concrete barriers will be strategically placed.
Secret Service spokesman George Ogilve declined to give specifics. The ACLU threatened court action unless details are released well in advance.

At issue are fundamental freedoms. They include speech and assembly rights. They’re also about police refraining from crackdowns on nonviolent protesters.

Will Chicago respect what NATO and Washington never do on so-called “liberating” missions? Activists want to know. The city has an odious reputation. More on that below.

Permits were granted for six protest events. Other groups got them earlier. Chicago cops cracked down anyway. A Secret Service/Chicago police business panel session revealed one planned tactic.

“Extraction teams” will snatch and grab protesters from crowds. Who for what reasons wasn’t explained.

Company representatives attending were told business won’t be affected. Staff won’t be deterred from moving around freely. How they’ll distinguish them from protesters and pedestrians isn’t clear, especially in large crowds.

Occupy Chicago plans 10 protest days. A May 12 “People’s Summit” will be followed by other events. Themes will highlight education, healthcare, the environment, immigration, other issues, and imperialism. On May 20, a “No to NATO” march is scheduled.

“We at Occupy Chicago,” it said, “cordially invite you to join us and thousands around the world in a week of action in protest. We will highlight the connection between our local struggles, global struggles, and the policies of the thieves and oppressors of NATO and G-8.”
Before things end, Chicago could become a battleground. Protesters stress nonviolence. Chicago cops are notoriously confrontational. In his 1990 book “Protectors of Privilege: Red Squads and Police Repression in Urban America,” Frank Donner called the city “the national capital of police repression” for good reason.

No-holds barred tactics are used. Illegal criminal methods include physical confrontation, intimidation, random searches, false arrests, racial targeting, sexual abuse, guerrilla warfare, torture, and whitewashed investigations. Thousands of complaints are lodged. Most fall on deaf ears.

Chicago is NATO’s 25th summit. It’s a first for Chicago. It may be the city’s greatest ever security challenge. Before it ends, violent crackdowns may exceed past large events.
more at link

[Kimberley]

Here is more...

JP Morgan losses send Wall Street back to Capitol Hill (+video)

Congressional critics plan hearings to probe how America's largest bank posted $2 billion in trading losses – and whether new financial regulations, still being implemented, go far enough to rein in Wall Street abuses

By David Grant, Staff writer / May 14, 2012
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0514/JP-Morgan-losses-send-Wall-Street-back-to-Capitol-Hill-video

[Sabrina]

More on JPMorgan and the unwelcome spotlight on them - as with Goldman Sachs recently. Continuing interesting times in 2012:).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/may/14/jp-morgan-shareholder-showdown-tempest

JP Morgan boss to face shareholders over $2bn 'tempest in a teapot'
Jamie Dimon is battling shareholders who want to see his position split and lawmakers who want to regulate his company


The embattled boss of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, faces shareholders at the bank's annual general meeting on Tuesday amid a backlash against its campaign to dilute plans for the tighter regulation of Wall Street.

Pension funds have called for the positions of chairman and chief executive, which are both held by Dimon, to be split, in the aftermath of a $2bn trading loss announced by the bank last week.

The White House called on Monday for the efforts of "Wall Street lobbyists" to be resisted. Congressman Barney Frank, co-author of the act that contains the proposed new rules against which Dimon has campaigned, told the Guardian that the JP Morgan fiasco "shows how wrong he is in arguing that the legislation is not needed".

JP Morgan confirmed on Monday that its chief investment officer, Ina Drew, a thirty-year veteran the bank and one of Wall Street's most senior women financiers, quit. Dimon had previously rejected several officers by Drew to resign.

Until now, criticism has rolled off Dimon. His closest rival, Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein, was bloodied by the credit crisis, and most of his fellow bank bosses lost their jobs. But the JP Morgan chairman and chief executive emerged as the survival king of Wall Street and its chief defender.

But thanks to the spectacular cock-up at JP's London office, the bank's shareholders have seen some $19bn wiped off the value of their investments, the result of by a gamble that only weeks ago Dimon memorably dismissed as a "tempest in a teapot". As shareholders gather in Tampa, Florida, for the AGM on Tuesday, Dimon faces the thorniest moment of his tenure.

As the man who steered JP Morgan through the credit crisis and secured its position as the biggest bank in the US, Dimon is more used to bouquets rather than brickbats from his shareholders. This year may be different: major pension funds and shareholder advisory firms were already calling for Dimon to step down as chairman.

After the loss was announced, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees reiterated its view that the bank's top jobs need to be split to improve corporate oversight. "We need an independent chairman of the board. The stakes are too high to leave Jamie Dimon unsupervised," said Gerald McEntee, trustee of the AFSCME pension plan, in a statement. All eyes will be on the combative boss to see how he reacts.
more at link

[Sabrina]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8467752/sa-judge-resigns-over-conduct
15 May Australia

South Australian District Court Judge Mark Griffin has been forced to resign because of conduct "inconsistent" with his position.

Judge Griffin, 55, has tendered his resignation with effect from 26 May, Chief Judge Terry Worthington said in a brief statement on Tuesday.

"Because of conduct that is inconsistent with his continuing to be a judge," Judge Worthington said.

"I am not at liberty to be more specific."

Judge Griffin, who was appointed in August 2009, is on leave and arrangements are being made for other judges to take over his cases.

[Sabrina]

http://www.haaretz.com/business/resignations-to-delay-major-projects-1.430530

15 May Israel


Resignations to delay major projects
Four treasury officials had key roles in tenders, reform of electricity, railways.


The recent departure of four Finance Ministry officials heavily involved in energy and transportation could slow the ministry's efforts to reshape these sectors. The urgency to make up for shortages in natural gas and electricity, as well as to reform the Israel Electric Corportaion and Israel Railways, require the four departing officials' replacements to hit the ground running fast.

[Sabrina]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18062485

15 May UK
Phone-hacking police charge Rebekah Brooks

(ex-editor of News International's News of the World)


Rebekah Brooks and her husband, Charlie, have been charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over the phone-hacking inquiry.

Three of Mrs Brooks's staff, and News International security head Mark Hanna, are also charged with the offence.

Mrs Brooks said: "I can't express my anger enough that those closest to me have been dragged into this unfairly."

They will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 13 June.

They have been charged with offences including concealing documents and computers from police.

The charges, which relate to alleged offences in July last year, are the first in an inquiry lasting 18 months - more than 40 other people remain on police bail in the investigation.

Mr Brooks said he had been used as a "scapegoat" to "ratchet up the pressure" on his wife, who he claimed was the victim of a "witch-hunt".


Alison Levitt QC: "There is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction."
The ex-News of the World editor herself said she was "baffled" by the decision.

She described the investigation as a "waste of public money" and added: "One day the details of this case will emerge and people will see today as nothing more than an expensive sideshow."

Mrs Brooks was editor of the News of the World (NoW) when voicemails on murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's mobile phone were allegedly intercepted.

She quit as chief executive of News International in July 2011 - the same month as the alleged conspiracy offences - after the phone-hacking scandal led to the paper's closure.
full story at link

[Sabrina]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/its-official-greece-pay-may-15-bond-maturity

It's Official: Greece To Pay May 15 Bond Maturity


Earlier, we reported on media speculation that this was a done deal. We now get confirmation.

GREEK FINANCE MINISTRY TO PAY EU435 MLN BOND
GREECE SAYS TODAY'S DECISION DOESN'T PREJUDICE FUTURE DECISIONS - no, just those you have to COMPLY with
In other words, just as Zero Hedge predicted in January, non-Greek law bondholders, who did not comply with the PSI, had all the leverage.

And by the way, this is not Greece masking the decision. This is the international bondholder community strong-arming Greece behind the scenes, as non-payment on strong covenants bonds would be tantamount to a null and voiding of virtually the entire strong covenant sovereign bond market instantaneously.

And again: congratulation to all those who were not Steve Rattnered into agreeing to the PSI, and held out: the 135% annualized return is worth it. Just keep this in mind when the PSIs of Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy take places next.


and


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18076757

15 May Greece

New Greek elections as coalition talks fail -


Greece is set to go to the polls again after days of coalition talks failed to produce agreement on a new government, says the leader of the Socialist Pasok party, Evangelos Venizelos.

A final round of talks on Tuesday morning broke up without a deal.

In elections on 6 May, a majority of Greek voters backed parties opposed to austerity plans demanded by the EU and IMF in return for two bailouts.

The Greek president will appoint a caretaker government on Wednesday.

President Karolos Papoulias will meet all political leaders at 13:00 (10:00 GMT) on Wednesday to put in place an interim government until the new vote, which is expected to take place on 10 or 17 June.

"Unfortunately, the country is heading again toward elections," Mr Venizelos told reporters after the talks on Tuesday.

The euro fell sharply on the news, tumbling from $1.2842 to $1.2771 shortly after 13:15 GMT - its lowest value since 18 January.

Greek shares also fell before recovering slightly.

full story at link

[Kimberley]

I like this guy and his messages....

200+ Executives Flee JP Morgan!

YysZPYHp_CA

[Sabrina]

Yet more on JP Morgan:


via American Kabuki

http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/podcast/3782/tfmr-podcast-19-jim-willie

Excellent podcast and analysis of the facts in Europe versus what JP Morgan's claims is happening. Jim Willie believes, based on his his knowledge of economic statistics, that JP Morgan's losses could be as high as 18 billion dollars.

I knew JPM was sand bagging us!

and



Reposted from Rumor Mill News

The Truth About JP Morgan’s $2 Billion Loss

Posted By: Danny Cahalin
Date: Tuesday, 15-May-2012 23:31:18
I included some of the links in this story, but I left out at least a dozen,that are included at Blacklisted News where I found this story,take care all.
----------------

Source: Washington's Blog

Must-Read Background

Before we can understand what’s really going on with JP Morgan’s loss (which will probably end up being a lot more than $2 billion), we need a little background.

JP Morgan:

Is the world’s largest publicly-traded company

Is the largest bank in the U.S. … the biggest of the too big to fail banks which are killing the American economy.

Is the largest derivatives dealer in the world (and see this), and derivatives are inherently destabilizing for the economy. http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/07/96-of-credit-derivative-risk-held-by-5-banks.html

Essentially wrote the faux “reform” legislation for derivatives, which did nothing to decrease risk, and killed any chance of real reform

Is the creator of credit default swaps – which caused the 2008 financial crisis, and is the asset class which blew up and caused the loss. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/20/wallstreet.banking

Has had large potential exposures to credit default swap losses for years

Has replaced the chief investment officer who made the risky bets with a trader who worked at Long Term Capital Management … which committed suicide by making risky bets

Went completely insolvent in the 1980s … and again in 2007 ( and was saved both times by the government at taxpayer expense).
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/10/9-giant-money-center-banks-were-insolvent-in-the-1980s.html

Heads – with Goldman Sachs – the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, which helps set government financial policy

Has a reputation of being the most risk-averse of the big Wall Street players

Was kept alive by a huge government bailout…but used the money to invest in India and other projects which won’t really help Americans
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/08/AR2009030802149_pf.html

Has made a killing by kicking companies (and see this) and governments (and here) when they are down, engaging in various types of fraud (update), allegedly manipulating the silver market, and profiting on misery by acting as the largest processor of food stamps in America

In addition, JPM’s CEO Jamie Dimon:

Is a Class A Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which is the chief bank regulator for Wall Street (including JPM). Indeed, Dimon served on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at the same time that his bank received emergency loans from the Fed and was used by the Fed as a clearing bank for the Fed’s emergency lending programs. In 2008, the Fed provided JP Morgan Chase with $29 billion in financing to acquire Bear Stearns. At the time, Dimon persuaded the Fed to provide JP Morgan Chase with an 18-month exemption from risk-based leverage and capital requirements. He also convinced the Fed to take risky mortgage-related assets off of Bear Stearns balance sheet before JP Morgan Chase acquired this troubled investment bank

Has a reputation of being the “golden boy” and smartest guy on Wall Street

Has been the chief spokesman and advocate for deregulation of banks, and has lectured, scolded and cajoled everyone who has questioned his banking practices

Jokes about a new financial crisis happening “every five to seven years”

What Does It Mean?
http://www.blacklistednews.com/The_Truth_About_JP_Morgan%E2%80%99s_%242_Billion_Loss/19493/0/38/38/Y/M.html

[Sabrina]

http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/cobras-very-first-interview

15 May

Cobra's Very First Interview

An extract - full interview at link:


Q: Are You familiar with Keenan Leans on FR, Central Banks... and what is your part in this mass arrests 'play'?...
Yes, I am familiar with these. I am involved in Resistance Movement special operations.

Q: Are some of these arrests already happened, but not fully disclosed to wide public knowledge and why these events are kept secret and by whom?...

Some arrests that do not include top members of the Cabal have already happened. Many top members of the Cabal have been detained, questioned and released. All this is being kept suppressed by the mainstream media under Rothschild control.

Q: How much surprise, truth exposure and anonymity of players plays in these games with cabal?...
We are in information war against the Cabal. They suppress the truth and we reveal it. Those of us that reveal sensitive intel must remain anonymous.

[Sabrina]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-15/greek-president-told-banks-anxious-as-deposits-pulled.html

15 May

Greek President Told Banks Anxious as Deposits Pulled

Greek President Karolos Papoulias was told by the nation’s central bank chief that financial institutions are worried about their survival as Greeks pull out euros amid a deepening political crisis.

Central bank head George Provopoulos told Papoulias that Greeks have withdrawn as much as 700 million euros ($891 million) and the situation could worsen, according to the transcript of the president’s meeting with party leaders on May 14 that was published yesterday.

“Provopoulos told me that of course there’s no panic but there’s great fear which can evolve into panic,” the president said.
Greece’s future in the euro has been thrown into doubt by the political standoff following inconclusive May 6 elections. The president was forced to call for new elections yesterday. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the next vote will be a referendum on whether Greece exits the euro, a move that would leave lenders to its government, businesses and households unsure of recouping their money.

The risk of a run on Greek banks is “a very serious problem,” Yannis Ioannides, professor of economics at Tufts University in Massachusetts, told Bloomberg Television. He said the European Central Bank needs to guarantee deposits held by the region’s lenders to guard against contagion. “That’s the only way to kill a bank run: not words but deeds.”

Banks in downtown in Athens were open as normal today with no signs of unusual activity. Deposits by businesses and households held in Greek banks stood at 165.4 billion euros in March, according to the last available data from the Bank of Greece. (TELL) In 2011, deposits declined 35.4 billion euros, or 17 percent.

Stocks Fall
Europe’s Stoxx 600 fell 1 percent at 11:15 a.m. in Athens while futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 0.2 percent. The euro traded less than 0.1 percent from the weakest level in almost four months. Greece’s benchmark ASE Index (ASE) gained 1.7 percent today after dropping 3.6 percent yesterday.

Greek leaders will seek agreement today on an interim government that will schedule new elections as early as June 10. Opinion polls suggest the Syriza party, which opposes the austerity measures pledged by Greece as part of an international bailout, may come in first place.

The 130 billion-euro bailout provided a 50 billion-euro fund to recapitalize banks after they reported losses from the country’s debt restructuring, the largest ever. Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said he believed that the first phase of the recapitalization of the banks would be completed in coming days, in an interview on state-run NET TV today.

Out of Cash
The country will run out of cash by early July if partners withhold their next aid payment. The European Financial Stability Facility on May 9 confirmed that a 5.2 billion-euro tranche will be released by the end of June, with 4.2 billion euros already disbursed May 10. The remaining 1 billion euros will be released depending on Greece’s financing needs.

The once-taboo issue of a Greek withdrawal or expulsion from the 17-nation currency union burst into the public debate last week, starting in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy and the country that invented the euro’s low-debt rules.

[foreverfan]

Chase could lose 25 Billion... it's all fake money anyway.

[Sabrina]

http://the2012scenario.com/2012/05/accidentally-released-and-incredibly-embarrassing-for-goldman-et-al/#more-120109

Accidentally Released – and Incredibly Embarrassing – Documents Show How Goldman et al Engaged in ‘Naked Short Selling’

15 May
http://tinyurl.com/88buvl9

It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes God smiles on us. Last week, he smiled on investigative reporters everywhere, when the lawyers for Goldman, Sachs slipped on one whopper of a legal banana peel, inadvertently delivering some of the bank’s darker secrets into the hands of the public.

The lawyers for Goldman and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch have been involved in a legal battle for some time – primarily with the retail giant Overstock.com, but also with Rolling Stone, the Economist, Bloomberg, and the New York Times. The banks have been fighting us to keep sealed certain documents that surfaced in the discovery process of an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit filed by Overstock against the banks.

Last week, in response to an Overstock.com motion to unseal certain documents, the banks’ lawyers, apparently accidentally, filed an unredacted version of Overstock’s motion as an exhibit in their declaration of opposition to that motion. In doing so, they inadvertently entered into the public record a sort of greatest-hits selection of the very material they’ve been fighting for years to keep sealed.

I contacted Morgan Lewis, the firm that represents Goldman in this matter, earlier today, but they haven’t commented as of yet. I wonder if the poor lawyer who FUBARred this thing has already had his organs harvested; his panic is almost palpable in the air. It is both terrible and hilarious to contemplate. The bank has spent a fortune in legal fees trying to keep this material out of the public eye, and here one of their own lawyers goes and dumps it out on the street.

The lawsuit between Overstock and the banks concerned a phenomenon called naked short-selling, a kind of high-finance counterfeiting that, especially prior to the introduction of new regulations in 2008, short-sellers could use to artificially depress the value of the stocks they’ve bet against. The subject of naked short-selling is a) highly technical, and b) very controversial on Wall Street, with many pundits in the financial press for years treating the phenomenon as the stuff of myths and conspiracy theories.

full story at link

[Bryn ap Gwilym]

http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/cobras-very-first-interview

15 May

Cobra's Very First Interview

An extract - full interview at link:


Q: Are You familiar with Keenan Leans on FR, Central Banks... and what is your part in this mass arrests 'play'?...
Yes, I am familiar with these. I am involved in Resistance Movement special operations.

Q: Are some of these arrests already happened, but not fully disclosed to wide public knowledge and why these events are kept secret and by whom?...

Some arrests that do not include top members of the Cabal have already happened. Many top members of the Cabal have been detained, questioned and released. All this is being kept suppressed by the mainstream media under Rothschild control.

Q: How much surprise, truth exposure and anonymity of players plays in these games with cabal?...
We are in information war against the Cabal. They suppress the truth and we reveal it. Those of us that reveal sensitive intel must remain anonymous.

Hi.

Isn't this channelled info?

And is Cobra the new kid on the block to take the baton from drake?

[Sabrina]

Guardian Tuesday 15 May 2012

Brazilian politicians and business leaders accused of involvement as special committee opens enquiries


Brazil is being rocked by a graft scandal involving local and national policymakers, police officers and business leaders, with a special panel preparing to question the alleged mastermind.

News of the scandal broke in February with the arrest of Carlos Augusto Ramos, aka Carlinhos Cachoeira (Charlie Waterfall), who is thought to run a gambling racket in Goias state. He is a familiar face in Brazilian politics. In 2004 he was at the centre of the Mensalao scandal that shook former President Lula's government and Workers' party (PT). Several officials were sacked but Cachoeira walked free.

Now he is being prosecuted for corruption and money-laundering offences, charges he denies. What started as a relatively low-profile investigation has grown into a major event, now known as Cachoeiragate.

Prosecutors have accumulated 40,000 pages of evidence and over 11,000 hours of phone taps. Cachoeira is allegedly the lynchpin of a scheme involving three senators, five MPs and four companies. More than 80 Cachoeira employees are thought to be involved. "If you don't pay everyone, the system doesn't work," one of his henchmen reportedly let slip in a phone call.

On 19 April Congress set up a special committee to investigate the matter. It has published a preliminary timetable for hearings, listing 167 summonses. The editor of the conservative magazine Veja is among the first on the list and Cachoeira is due to appear this week.

After that it will be the turn of the reputedly incorruptible opposition senator Demostenes Torres, who is suspected of negotiating public works contracts in exchange for kickbacks. Investigators say they intercepted some 300 phone calls to Cachoeira. Torres also denies all charges.

On 29 May attention will turn to Claudio Dias de Abreu. Currently in custody, a former head of operations for construction firm Delta allegedly negotiated deals directly with local politicians. The firm is doing renovation work for the 2014 football World Cup, and has contracts with both Rio de Janeiro and federal authorities.

The government hailed the launch of the special committee, but President Dilma Rousseff may fear that the investigation will upset a busy political agenda and endanger a fragile ruling coalition.

This article originally appeared in Le Monde

[Sabrina]

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/05/14/over-120-years-of-exec-experience-washed-away-this-weekend/?mod=wsj_share_twitter
14 May

Over 120 Years of Exec Experience Washed Away This Weekend

Heads are falling across corporate America.

So much so that Deal Journal got to wondering, how much experience has been washed away since the close of trading Friday by companies trying to clean house or by executive leaving on more friendly terms. (Some are just retiring and others just wanted to go get a new job.)

The answer: More than 120 years of experience has been moved out of positions since Friday night.

Ina R. Drew, J.P. Morgan, formerly Chief Investment Officer — “Retiring” after 30 years – Drew maneuvered through several big mergers that have a tendency to wipe out duplicate bank managers, but couldn’t dodge the bullet from a $2 billion trading loss in her risk-management unit.

Richard Schulze, Best Buy, soon to be former Chairman — “Stepping Down” after 46 years — He founded of Best Buy in 1966 and led the company for 30 years before handing over the CEO role in 2002. Schulze’s official company bio describes his life as “truly the stuff of the American dream.” But after failing to alert the board to improprieties by ex-CEO Brian Dunn, the septuagenarian is relinquishing his position at his company. He’ll keep an “honorary position” as Founder and Chairman Emeritus.

Scott Thompson, Yahoo, formerly CEO — “Resigned” after 4 months — He went from “New Yahoo CEO” to “Ex Yahoo CEO” never having been called just “Yahoo CEO,” thanks to a resume embellishment.

Gene Morphis, Francesca Holdings Corp., formerly CFO — “Terminated for cause” after 1.5 years — The CFO was fired by the women’s retailer Monday after a three-day internal investigation found that he “improperly communicated Company information through social media”

Paul Saleh, Gannett, formerly CFO — Resigned after 1.5 years — The CFO of the media giant, and former CFO of Sprint-Nextel, was brought to Gannett in November 2010. He resigned from Gannett to join Computer Sciences Corp. as CFO.

Robert Bahash, McGraw-Hill, formerly president — Retired after 37 years — The former leader of the company’s education business is formally retiring as McGraw-Hill splits up its units and names fresh blood to run the place. Bahash’s retirement was expected.

David L. Messenger, UDR Inc., formerly CFO — Resigned for another job after four years — The CFO of the apartment developer is leaving for another job in the real-estate sector.

[Sabrina]

The Hill - Facebook


Lawmakers stay largely silent over Chinese takeover of US bank branches

U.S. lawmakers have been unusually silent about federal regulators' decision to allow a Chinese bank to take over 13 bank branches in New York and California, suggesting that they think American banks have much to gain.

Members of both parties usually relish the chance to bash China on everything from government subsidies to the yuan's exchange rate. Yet Wednesday's decision by the Federal Reserve to certify a Chinese bank acquisition for the first time was met by near-universal silence.

Scott Talbott, the head lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, said that's unsurprising. The U.S. wants China to open up its financial services market – foreign ownership of Chinese banks is limited to 25 percent – and allowing a Chinese presence in the U.S. is seen as a necessary trade-off.

“What this boils down to is that there are a ton more potential customers in China for U.S. banks than there are potential customers for the Chinese here,” Talbott said. “So in the long run, the approval is going to benefit the U.S.”

Wednesday's decision allows Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, which is 70 percent owned by the Chinese government, to take an 80 percent stake in a Hong Kong-based bank with 13 branches in the U.S. The Fed also allowed two other Chinese banks to open branches in New York and Chicago.

The decision came days after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner met with top Chinese officials for annual talks in Beijing. China agreed during those talks to allow foreigners a greater stake in Chinese brokerage firms.

[Sabrina]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18081930

16 May

Ratko Mladic led ethnic cleansing, war crimes trial told


Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic intended to "ethnically cleanse" Bosnia, the opening day of his war crimes trial has heard.

Gen Mladic faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, in connection with the brutal 1992-95 Bosnian war.

Prosecutors in The Hague said they would show his hand in the crimes.

He has called the accusations "monstrous" and the court has entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Gen Mladic is accused of orchestrating the massacre of more than 7,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) boys and men at Srebrenica in 1995.

He is also charged in connection with the 44-month siege of Sarajevo during which more than 10,000 people died.

[Sabrina]

And farewell:

16 May 2012 | 08:20am UK

StockMarketWire.com - Principality Group Chief Executive, Peter Griffiths has announced that he will step down from his role at Wales' largest building society following the appointment of a suitable successor.

and


Romania’s science minister copies other people’s science, resigns

by Richard Warnica on Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Ioan Mang, the education and research minister in Romania’s new government, resigned Tuesday after allegations surfaced that at least eight of his academic papers had been lifted, nearly entire, from other sources.

and

16 May

Another resignation hits Costa Rica's cabinet

SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Costa Rica's justice minister, Hernando Paris, stepped down on Tuesday citing personal reasons, the fifth cabinet member of President Laura Chinchilla's cabinet to leave post this year.

and

USA 16 May

STILWELL — Cherokee Nation Supreme Court Justice Kyle B. Haskins has resigned his post with the tribe, effective June 1.

According to CN officials, Haskins did not reveal his reason for quitting in the email sent to Principal Chief Bill John Baker earlier this week.

and


16 May USA

AP

ATLANTA (AP) - The chief magistrate court judge in Rabun County has resigned amid an investigation by Georgia's judicial watchdog group.

Lawrence "Rocky" Ford submitted his resignation on Tuesday. Documents filed by the Judicial Qualifications Commission said it began investigating Ford after it received complaints that the judge failed to follow appropriate criminal procedure.

He is the fourth judge from the Mountain Judicial Circuit to step down in recent years amid investigations by the commission. Three other judges stepped down from the circuit in 2010 after the commission launched an investigation.

and

Israel 17 May

Tzipi Livni is scheduled to meet Knesset Speaker Rivlin later Tuesday, where political sources estimate will submit her resignation from the Knesset following a recent loss to Shaul Mofaz in the Kadima primary.

The former foreign minister has reportedly updated aides and party officials of her intention to resign during the meeting.

and

15 May Bulgaria

Sofia. National Security Service chief lieutenant general Dimitar Dimitrov has handed in his resignation to Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, announced the press service of the President’s Office.

General Dimitrov wants to quit his post and military service, citing personal grounds. The head of state accepted the resignation.

[Sabrina]

http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/cobras-very-first-interview

15 May

Cobra's Very First Interview

An extract - full interview at link:


Q: Are You familiar with Keenan Leans on FR, Central Banks... and what is your part in this mass arrests 'play'?...
Yes, I am familiar with these. I am involved in Resistance Movement special operations.

Q: Are some of these arrests already happened, but not fully disclosed to wide public knowledge and why these events are kept secret and by whom?...

Some arrests that do not include top members of the Cabal have already happened. Many top members of the Cabal have been detained, questioned and released. All this is being kept suppressed by the mainstream media under Rothschild control.

Q: How much surprise, truth exposure and anonymity of players plays in these games with cabal?...
We are in information war against the Cabal. They suppress the truth and we reveal it. Those of us that reveal sensitive intel must remain anonymous.

Hi.

Isn't this channelled info?

And is Cobra the new kid on the block to take the baton from drake?


Wouldn't think he was taking Drake's baton - but here you go - one take on it - I'm all for a bit of diversity in these arresting times! Light exposing the dark makes sense to me on many levels - and look at how much is being exposed at the moment. :)



http://www.ascensionwithearth.com/2012/05/who-is-cobra-of-portal-2012-website.html

Who is COBRA of Portal 2012 Website?


What is Cobra?


COBRA is a codename for compression breakthrough. The surface of planet Earth is compressed in a sandwich. Light forces of the Galactic Confederation are advancing from the sky downwards toward the surface of the planet. Light forces of the Resistance Movement are advancing from the underground up towards the surface of the planet.


The surface is thus subjected to the pressure of Light and dark forces of the Cabal have nowhere to hide. They can not escape via wormholes, stargates or teleportation chambers into space. They can not use space vehicles of any official or secret space program. They can not dig holes and bunkers deep underground and hide there. They can not even hide on lower astral plane anymore.


The ongoing process of compression means that Light will expose everything that is hidden, collectively and individually. When Light from above and Light from below meet right on the surface of the planet, this is the moment of compression breakthrough. That occurrence is called the Event. The Event includes, but is not limited to mass arrests of the Cabal. Rather it is a multidimensional trigger event that starts the process of entering into the long-awaited Golden Age. With darkness removed, humanity will be able to co-create its own future.



Who is Cobra?
Cobra is a codename for the writer of this blog. Cobra’s identity must remain veiled for now for various reasons. Cobra is not associated with military or Drake, although he/she perceives Drake as the most reliable messenger for the Plan. Cobra may or may not be part of the Resistance Movement.


What is important is the message and not the messenger. Human mind usually associates given message with perceived characteristics of the messenger and this tends to cloud its objectivity.


Along with posts from the Resistance Movement and some other advanced sources, Cobra may occasionally post in this blog certain pieces from Benjamin, David, Drake or any other credible messengers. We are all in this fight for victory of the Light together!

[Sabrina]

The good news is fighting back at the moment - the fight back continues?

http://rt.com/usa/news/ndaa-judge-blocked-detention-437/

17 May USA

US judge blocks indefinite detention of Americans

A US federal judge has temporarily blocked a section of the controversial National Defense Authorization Act that allows for the indefinite military detention of US citizens.

In a 68-page ruling, US District Judge Katherine Forrest agreed on Wednesday that the statute failed to “pass constitutional muster” because its language could be interpreted quite broadly and eventually be used to suppress political dissent.
"There is a strong public interest in protecting rights guaranteed by the First Amendment," Forrest wrote, according to CourtHouseNews.Com. "There is also a strong public interest in ensuring that due process rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment are protected by ensuring that ordinary citizens are able to understand the scope of conduct that could subject them to indefinite military detention."

The Manhattan judge therefore ruled in favor of a group of writers and activists who sued US officials, including President Barack Obama. They claimed that the act, which was signed into law on December 31, makes them fear possible arrest by US armed forces.

Among those who filed the complaint, Bloomberg reports, was former New York Times reporter Christopher Hedges. According to the journalist, NDAA would allow federal authorities to hold him in custody just for interviewing individuals who were detained on “suspicion of providing substantial support” to people engaged in hostilities against the US.
The order by Judge Forrest prevents the enforcement of the statute provision, pending further order of the court or an amendment to the statute by the US Congress.


and


http://rt.com/usa/news/judge-nypd-new-york-418/


Judge rules that millions can sue NYPD over stop-and-frisk


A federal judge in New York has given the go ahead for a class action lawsuit to move forward against the city’s police department over allegations that its stop-and-frisk program has continuously allowed officers to discriminate against minorities.

In a ruling made Wednesday by US District Judge Shira Scheindlin, the pending suit against the NYPD, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others was granted class action status.
Authorities seem nonplussed.

When asked for his take on Judge Scheindlin’s decision, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly told the New York Times that he had no comment because the litigation was continuing, but offered one quip: “It is what it is.”

Mayor Bloomberg also said he couldn’t comment specifically on the ruling, but, according to the Associated Press, had some words nonetheless.

"Nobody should ask Ray Kelly to apologize – he's not going to and neither am I – for saving 5,600 lives. And I think it's fair to say that stop, question and frisk has been an essential part of the NYPD's work; it's taken more than 6,000 guns off the streets in the last eight years, and this year we are on pace to have the lowest number of murders in recorded history. … We're not going to do anything that undermines that trend and threatens public safety,” said the mayor.

For others, however, it doesn’t seem as clear cut; in her ruling, Judge Scheindlin decries, "First, suspicionless stops should never occur.”

The current case began to take hold all the way back in 2008 when attorneys representing four plaintiffs first began seeking class action status. The four original named plaintiffs say that they were wrongfully stopped and frisked based on their race. In only 2011, the NYPD stopped 685,724 New Yorkers, reports the American Civil Liberties Union. In all, 89 percent of those stopped were either black or Latino. Of the nearly 700,000 cases in that year alone, 88 percent of the people stopped were found innocent. Such statistics are largely typical for previous years, although one thing that has changed as time has gone on is the number of pedestrians stopped by law enforcement.

“[T]he policing policies that the city has implemented over the past decade and half have led to a dramatic increase in the number of pedestrian stops, to the point of now reaching almost 600,000 a year,” Judge Scheindlin wrote of the case earlier this year.

Now anyone that feels they have been victimized similarly by the New York Police Department by means of an invasive and unwarranted search since 2005 can add their name to the case.
By way of the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk policies, police officers in the Big Apple are allowed to conduct searches of suspicious persons if they have reason to believe that they are committing a crime. Statistics documenting the history of the program reveal, however, that skin color seems to play a pivotal role when the police are left to decide who is frisked and who isn’t.
Judge Scheindlin says it is unlikely that many people will sign on to the case, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t many who would be excluded from doing so. The NYPD has already stopped and frisked more than 200,000 people on the streets of New York in the first three months of 2012 alone; between 2004 and 2009, around 2.8 million similar stops were carried out.

“This case presents an issue of great public concern: the disproportionate number of Blacks and Latinos, as compared to Whites, who become entangled in the criminal justice system,” the judge writes in her ruling. “The specific claims raised in this case are narrower but they are raised in the context of the extensively documented racial disparities in the rates of stops, arrests, convictions, and sentences that continue through the present day.”

Elsewhere in her ruling, Judge Scheindlin says that the NYPD’s arguments in favor of the program appear “cavalier” and display “a deeply troubling apathy towards New Yorkers’ most fundamental constitutional rights.”

In a statement offered to the AP, the law office for the city of New York says, "We respectfully disagree with the decision and are reviewing our legal options."

[Sabrina]

Euro chaos continues - and that's only what main stream press are publicly writing...


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9270834/Spain-could-be-locked-out-of-the-markets-says-Mariano-Rajoy.html

17 May Spain

Spain could be locked out of the markets, says Mariano Rajoy

Mariano Rajoy pleaded for an urgent “defence of the euro project” yesterday as Madrid was close to being locked out of international markets by “astronomical” borrowing costs.

The prime minister of Spain called for European leaders to publicly back the so-called 'sinner states’ amid fears that contagion from Greece could trigger a highly-anticipated Spanish banking crisis and then a bail-out.

Mr Rajoy told state television there was “a serious risk we will not be able to borrow - or borrow at astronomical prices” unless they succeeded in bringing down the debt levels and regaining market confidence. “All these measures are to get out of the hole we find ourselves in,” he said.

He also fired a warning shot a Brussels after days of speculation about the break-up of the euro. “I would like a clear, strong message in defence of the euro project and an affirmation of the sustainability of the public debt of all the European countries that are subject to discussion at the moment,” he said.

Analysts at Citigroup said Spain would “probably require some form of troika programme in the course of the year.”
In Madrid, efforts continued to shore up Spain’s stricke banks. Shares in Bankia, the part nationalised lender, dropped more than 10pc after the Bank of Spain demanded a “stronger plan” for its recapitalisation.

Even so, as Greece continued its slide towards political and financial chaos, traders became more alarmed over Spain. Mr Rajoy joined calls for Greece to be kept in the euro, to stop contagion spreading. ”I don’t want Greece to leave the euro,” he said. “I think that would be an enormous mistake, very bad news.”

The warning came amid reports that one Cayman islands-based vulture fund, Dart Management, received almost 90pc of the €435m of debts that Greece repaid on Tuesday.

The fund, founded by American tax exile Kenneth Dart, was one of those that refused the debt restructuring deal that saved Greece from default in March.

The yield on Spain’s benchmark 10-year bonds hit 6.5pc - close to the 7pc danger level where Ireland, Greece and Portugal had to seek a bail-out. The spread over the German bunds soared over 500 basis points - a fresh record since the euro was launched.

Spanish bond yields dropped back to 6.3pc but economists still said the level was unsustainable. The euro hit a four-year low against the dollar and European markets fell.

Spain faces a big test on the bondmarkets today with the planned auction of €2.5bn of short-dated government bonds.
Italy was also swept back into the eye of the storm. Italian bond yields rose to 5.98pc - the highest since the end of January - as International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned Rome was also vulnerable. The fund said Rome was making progress with its austerity programme but warned that “renewed financial turmoil could push government bond yields higher, tighten bank credit and weaken activity.”

Rome was urged to speed up its efforts to overhaul its economy. “Slow progress in implementing needed fiscal and structural reforms could undermine confidence and raise concerns about Italy’s fiscal consolidation,” the IMF said.
The IMF also echoed Mr Rajoy’s call for greater support of the eurozone from the stronger northern core. It said that a eurozone “with greater fiscal and financial discipline and risk sharing would provide a more durable solution” to the debt crisis. The report said that “further monetary easing and unconventional measures as needed by the ECB” would help support Italy’s “adjustment efforts.”

Like Greek insitutions, Italian banks were also suffering from outflows. But Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the EC, said: “There is no way of changing the commitments taken by Greece and also by the other 16 euro area member states.”

and


Debt crisis: Greek euro exit looms closer as banks crumble
A tsunami of capital flight from Greece threatens to overwhelm the authorities, forcing the country out of the euro before fresh elections in June.

Economists warned that the Greek financial system could crumble within weeks or days unless the European Central Bank steps up support.

President Karolos Papoulias told party leaders that banks had lost €700m in withdrawals on Monday alone as citizens rush to pre-empt capital controls and a much-feared return to the Drachma.

He cited central bank warnings that "great fear" might soon escalate to panic. The leaked details lend credence to claims that capital flight by both savers and firms have reached €4bn a week since the triumph of anti-bailout parties on May 6.

[Sabrina]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9270700/JP-Morgan-hit-by-lawsuit-over-clandestine-conversion-that-caused-2bn-trading-loss.html

JP Morgan hit by lawsuit over 'clandestine conversion' that caused $2bn trading loss

JP Morgan shareholders have sued the bank over its $2bn (£1.3bn) trading loss, alleging that a division within the bank had a “clandestine conversion” from one designed to manage risk to one that made multi-billion dollar bets.

Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan’s chairman and chief executive, and Douglas Braunstein, the bank’s finance director, are accused of breaching fiduciary duty to investors and wasting the bank’s assets in a suit filed in New York by Californian shareholder James Baker.

America’s biggest bank by assets has been under fire since last week’s disclosure of losses that it has warned may get bigger.

The losses were racked up in derivatives bets made by traders in the London arm of the chief investment office (CIO), a $350bn division which invests deposits the bank has received from customers but has yet to lend out.
The bank failed to disclose “the similarly clandestine conversion of a unit within the company that was touted as providing a conservative risk-reduction function into a risky, short-term trading enterprise that exposed the company to large losses instead,” Mr Baker alleged in the suit.

Although JP Morgan has insisted the losses came from hedges that backfired, their scale has increased pressure on US regulators to ensure that the final version of the Volcker Rule – which bans banks from gambling with their own money – is free from the loopholes that Wall Street is pushing for.

Mr Dimon and Mr Braustein are accused in a second lawsuit filed by asset management firm Saratoga of making “materially false and misleading statements and omissions” about the trades when they were asked about them by analysts in April. At that time, media reports that the CIO was making risky bets were described by Mr Dimon as a “tempest in a teapot.”
Meanwhile, it was reported that JP Morgan’s asset management division had in effect been betting against Bruno Iksil, the London-based trader in the CIO who earned the moniker the ‘London Whale’ because of the size of the trades he was making.

While Mr Iksil was selling insurance against the possibility that a series of companies would default, a fund in the bank’s asset management division had been making the opposite bet, the New York Times reported.
JP Morgan declined to comment.

[GoodETxSG]

Don't you just LOVE how JPMorgan Chase got a big ole pat on the back from the President after the latest incident that was almost exactly like the incidents that caused the 2008 crash? And one person gets fired... who makes 14 MILLION a year in base pay and another 14 MILLION $ in Bonuses... oh my, what ever will she do... she was fired so she cant get unemployment checks... her family will starve will they not? Since this is normal pay that is argued as being essential in attracting and keeping the BEST of the BEST Banksters on the job... this is tongue in cheek if you haven't noticed... Sickening.

:faint2: :yuck: :evil: :jaw:

[Kimberley]

This guy has an interesting perspective.....

Has It Begun? Spain's Banks Being Run On Like Greece! Beast?

Published on May 17, 2012 by paulbegley34

Theologian Paul Begley of Indiana wonders "Has it begun?" Citizens of Spain today May 17, 2012 have taken 1 billion dollars out of their banks causing a panic among 17 member EU http://www.paulbegleyprophecy.com the link is http://www.dailymail.co.uk

n8VK4Gc8IIA

[DreamsInDigital]

You know what's interesting, a friend of mine that lives in Europe was talking about Spain and couple other countries defaulting soon including Greece, but how it wasn't being covered.

[Sabrina]

More on the vulture funds and Greece - glad the main stream press is covering this and revealing some of the reasons for the chaos.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/vulture-funds-circle-as-greece-fears-grow-7758127.html
17 May

'Vulture funds' circle as Greece fears grow
As Greeks rush to withdraw savings, bailout fund pays US tax exile €400m


An American tax exile living in the Cayman Islands has emerged as a winner from the chaos engulfing Greece, even as the political and economic turmoil in the beleaguered nation deepened yesterday, with Athens putting a senior judge in charge of an emergency government to lead it to fresh elections.

Kenneth Dart, the Michigan-born heir to a disposable cups fortune, was handed an estimated €400m (£320m) cheque from Greece this week, after successfully calling the country's bluff and refusing to take part in the restructuring of government debt that saved Greece from default in the spring.

Amid alarming reports of depositors withdrawing their cash from Greek banks, the government decided it could ill afford a showdown with Mr Dart's hedge fund, Dart Management, and similar "vulture funds" who have purchased Greek debt and are threatening to sue if the interest payments are not made. Concerns over the state of the nation's banks have mounted as the odds of a disorderly Greek exit from the eurozone have shortened in recent days, and keeping the financial system sound will be the No 1 priority of Panagiotis Pikramenos, named caretaker Prime Minister after the collapse of coalition talks on Tuesday.

He is charged with steering Greece to new elections on 17 June without incident, although concerns over the risk of financial panic have risen since European political leaders began to speculate that Greece could leave the euro. Moreover, recent opinion polls suggest that anti-bailout parties – in particular the Syriza party led by Alexis Tsipras – could return with a bigger slice of the vote after the June elections.

This already complex picture is further complicated by the role of the vulture funds. Dart Management holds a significant portion of the roughly 5 per cent of Greek debt that was not subject to renegotiation under the terms of its bailout deal, and took a reported 90 per cent of the €436m paid by the Greek government to bondholders on Tuesday. While Mr Dart is still a board member of the family company, Dart Containers, which is America's largest producer of plastic cups, he has not lived in the country since 1994.

After decamping from the US on his 220ft yacht, he settled in the Cayman Islands, where he is a powerful real estate developer. Dart Management, along with another vulture fund Elliott Associates, is likely to have picked up Greek debt at a fraction of its value in the hope of being able to force the country into paying some or all of what it owes. The two firms are still suing Argentina in the US courts to demand full payment of bonds on which that government defaulted in 2002. Mr Dart first came to international attention in this sphere by pocketing an estimated $600m from putting pressure on the Brazilian government after its default in 1993.

Yesterday, the company refused to comment on what it called market rumours. The Greek government, meanwhile, said Tuesday's payments did not set a precedent that meant it would divert any more of its precious bailout cash to the vulture funds in future.

The threat of a legal battle that could tie up funds earmarked for Greece from European bailout coffers adds another concern to that stoked by news that more than €1bn has been withdrawn from Greek banks in two days by savers fearing financial chaos if the country returns to the drachma.

These worrying figures were not reflected in the streets of Athens, however. On Syntagma Square, no long queues had formed at cash machines.

"We can't all start panicking and running to the bank. The country will collapse if we do that, "said Marika Tilanogiannis, a mechanical engineer. "What little I have left, I leave for Greece."

Marika's brother didn't share her optimism – Giorgos had moved his savings to a bank abroad. But Marika's reasoning was echoed by experts who cautioned that politicians' pessimistic statements about the country's finances risked turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"This entire situation has got my family extraordinarily worried about our savings, in case we return to the drachma," said Yannis Paleologos, a 40-year-old pharmacist. "We have a considerable amount of money and we're scared to lose it." Mr Paleologos was about to go to a bank to discuss how to preserve his deposits in case of an exit from the single currency union.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18100049

17 May Spain

Bankia shares plunge again as it denies withdrawal rush

Shares in Spanish bank Bankia have again closed down sharply after concerns intensified about the struggling group's finances.

The bank was forced to deny a report customers had taken 1bn euros ($1.3bn; £800m) out of the bank, which is set to be part-nationalised, in the past week.

Shares ended down 14%. They have almost halved in value this month.

The Spanish government, meanwhile, has had to pay higher rates of interest to borrow money on the markets.

Fears about the losses Spanish banks may be holding on property loans hit banking shares across Europe.

"Markets are worried about eurozone bank deposit runs and an escalating banking crisis," said VTB Capital economist Neil MacKinnon.

Alberto Gallo, head of credit research at Royal Bank of Scotland, told the BBC: "The problem is Spanish banks are too large for the government to bear all of their weight.

"You [the Spanish government] need to make a choice and just protect stronger banks, otherwise Spain will go the way of Ireland - having to do a lot of austerity and potentially incurring losses for bank bondholders."

more at link

[Sabrina]

Corruption has been rife there for years - but corruption charges seem to be headlining across the world - untruths being uncovered at last in some areas.

http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/05/15/inenglish/1337111053_579525.html

15 May Spain

CORRUPTION
Ex-Balearics party baroness goes on trial for embezzlement

Two cooperating witnesses on Tuesday testified at the corruption trial of two former top elected Balearic Islands officials that they served as front men in the purchase of an audiovisual production company that was later used to fraudulently obtain public money.

The two defendants, María Antònia Munar and Miquel Nadal, were both members of the now-disbanded Unió Mallorquina (UM) political grouping and are charged with embezzlement, falsifying documents and dereliction of their public duties.

For more than 30 years, Munar was one of the most prominent politicians in the Balearics. From 2007 to 2010, she served as speaker of the local regional parliament. Nadal, her right hand-man, served as vice president of the City Council in Palma de Mallorca.

Prosecutors claim the two defendants helped approve some 240,000 euros in contracts to the production company in which they had been part owners but which was represented by the front men. One of these was Víctor García, who was married to the cousin of Munar’s husband.

García and Miquel Sard testified on the second day of the trial that they agreed to list their names as co-owners of the company Video U at Nadal’s behest. One of their goals was to obtain a license from the regional government for a local TDT channel.
more at link

[Alie]

Sabrina
Doesn't it feel like there's a "change in speed" right now --- kind of like you're feeling the change by what and how often you're posting.

[foreverfan]

Sabrina
Doesn't it feel like there's a "change in speed" right now --- kind of like you're feeling the change by what and how often you're posting.

She's doing a great job.

[Sabrina]

Sabrina
Doesn't it feel like there's a "change in speed" right now --- kind of like you're feeling the change by what and how often you're posting.

Hi Alie, I think it reflects how we feel time is changing. It's getting hard to keep track of time. Perhaps it is changing from linear to zero point! I seem to get guided to the stories to post, and stories and tales of corruption seem to be coming up quicker and quicker. There is a definite trend in my opinion of untruths coming out. Also perhaps some people have to resign and can't keep in the old dysfunctional energy any more -or some think they are about to be found out. I imagine the Venus transit and forthcoming eclipses will ramp up the energy even more. And the G8 happening now. Reckon we are in for a wild time and we need to envision what we want! :)

[Sabrina]

We're coming up for major changes I reckon - old dysfunctional financial systems creaking at the seams and showing how they cannot work... watch this space Avalonians .... it is happening.. things are changing.....:) (imo as they say)...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9276204/Europe-admits-Greece-exit-preparation.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9276204/Europe-admits-Greece-exit-preparation.html


Europe admits Greece exit preparation
Brussels is preparing plans for Greece to quit the euro, a senior official has revealed, as analysts warned that the country’s exit would cost European taxpayers at least €225bn (£180bn).


European Union trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said that both the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) were working behind the scenes on contingency plans for a break-up.

“Today there are in the European Central Bank, as well as in the Commission, services working on emergency scenarios if Greece shouldn’t make it. A Greek exit does not mean the end of the euro, as some claim,” he said.

The first public declaration that preparations are in place came as economists at UBS said European taxpayers would have to swallow losses on Greece, whether or not it remains a member of the currency union.

Under a best case scenario, which would see Greece remain inside the euro but its colossal €274bn of outstanding debt put on a more sustainable path, UBS said European taxpayers would have to write-off €60bn of the €182bn of rescue loans they have provided.

If Greece was to leave the euro, however, the bill would jump to at least €225bn as the new currency would halve in value and €104bn of additional emergency funding by the ECB would be wiped out.
RE

PS yesterday I heard a really weird drama enactment on BBC Radio 2 whereby Greece had defaulted and troops where on the street over there and it all happened on a Sunday to surprise people as they went back to the Drachma. Predictive programming my daughter would spit. How weird putting it in the light of day... But I think there are far more wheels in wheels than tptb realise..

[Taurean]

Any more Taxpayer bailouts and/or austerity programs, then this becomes more of a reality.

Quote by Siberia9


Ive made it no secret here that I am related to some of the Illuminati Bloodline Family's, and I remember being told when I was young that it was part of the plan to have the people hate their govts and see them as criminals so they could change the way things are run once and for all. I dont have all the secrets but that piece of the puzzle is on my table and it fits right next to the one that says China will be the muscle for the New Order after the US has collapsed.

[Sabrina]

Any more Taxpayer bailouts and/or austerity programs, then this becomes more of a reality.

Quote by Siberia9


Ive made it no secret here that I am related to some of the Illuminati Bloodline Family's, and I remember being told when I was young that it was part of the plan to have the people hate their govts and see them as criminals so they could change the way things are run once and for all. I dont have all the secrets but that piece of the puzzle is on my table and it fits right next to the one that says China will be the muscle for the New Order after the US has collapsed.

Well pressure is certainly mounting at the moment on this front - there are continuous talks of more austerity measures and bailouts on one hand and protests across Europe (often not or under-reported) and increasing cynicism about politicians and bankers on the other. Sab.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9278418/Cracks-are-appearing-in-Europes-state-backed-lenders.html

Cracks are appearing in Europe's state-backed lenders
European taxpayers face having to bankroll a new wave of bailouts amid growing funding problems at state-backed borrowers across the region, according to senior bankers.

backed borrowers are losing their ability to access private funding markets. The development raises the prospect of already heavily indebted eurozone national governments being forced to take on hundreds of billions of euros of additional debts.
“Cracks are appearing in the funding markets for these institutions. If you don’t like the sovereign risk, why would you take the risk of buying the debt of the institutions they support,” said one credit banker.

In France, the authorities are racing to avoid having to rescue Caisse Centrale du Credit Immobilier (3CIF) after Moody’s downgraded the mortgage lender last week, warning it could become totally reliant on taxpayer support within months.

The lender is one of France’s largest mortgage providers and is owned by a collection of local authorities and mutuals, giving it implicit government support.

full story at link

[Sabrina]

WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON IN THE EURO ZONE AND BEYOND?

Had a long train journey today, and was noticeable how many mixed messages there are about Greece and the Eurozone and the financial crises in general. Some politicians are saying Greece exiting the euro is unthinkable, while other sources are talking about plans already being put into place to cope with this. Greeks are withdrawn large amounts from their bank accounts and Spaniards are reportedly looking to do the same. UK holders of Santander (Spanish bank) accounts are asking if their money is safe.

The UK's Sunday Times quotes financial historian Nial Ferguson (his latest book is Civilization: The Six Killer Apps of Western Power) with him saying:

"I think it's worth considering that the architects of the monetary union knew all along that it would lead to a crisis and the crisis would lead to a federal solution. I'm not quite sure how far that was articulated, but I think it was implicit. In fact, you could say it was actually designed to create a crisis," he said.
'

Now I've seen this written about in so called conspiracy circles in the past, but good to see it starkly in print in this book and in the Sunday Times.

The article continues: 'In the late 1990's, an internal paper circulated in the Bank of England about a hypothetical break-up of the single currency. It floated the idea that 'country I' - and the supposed identity of the country I could be speculated upon but was never made explicit - would run an unsustainable deficit. Because there was no legal exit from the single currency, the costs of any exit would be sky high. "And", Ferguson says, "it was designedly so. That point has held good.'



There are so many mixed messages today, it looks like deliberate confusion to me - although innocent financial commentators must be scratching their heads for any logical solution or conclusion - which there isn't in a deliberately dysfunctional system is there?

A few different quotes in the SUnday Time today showing the range of financial chaos and also the games played in the mortgage markets.

GREECE
'Without a new dollop of cash, Greece runs out of money in six week's time.'

FRANCE MORTGAGE LENDER IN TROUBLE
'France may be forced to rescue one of its largest mortgage providers after the lender became the latest victim of the eurozone crisis' (Caisse Centrale du Credit Immobilier de France with 33 billion euros advanced mortgages).

IRELAND
'Ireland could be forced to seek a second international bailout because of mounting losses to its crippled banking industry, according to a leading investment bank.' (4 billion eurso may be needed according to Deutsche).

DUBAI
'Dubai has emerged as a surprised victim of the eurozone crisis, thanks to its disastrous backing of a Greek investment group.'

'Sir Mervyn King and other members of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee agree that there is no "meaningful way to quantify the most extreme possible outcomes" in the eurozone.'




A report of the G8 Camp David discussions about the eurozone here (well the version given to the main stream press anyway):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/g8/9277263/David-Cameron-and-Barack-Obama-lead-charge-to-save-the-eurozone.html

David Cameron has called for world leaders to draw up "strong contingency plans" for the break-up of the euro after discussing the European debt crisis with Barack Obama




and this is interesting:


JP MORGAN PROPPING UP ALL NEW MORTGAGES TO BRITISH HOMEOWNERS
'The secretive operation behind JP Morgan's multi-billion dollar trading losses has, in effect, propped up all the new mortgages handed out to British homeowners over the past four years......the JP Morgan unit has been the single biggest buyer of mortgage-backed bonds sold by British banks, according to market sources.....the huge bond purchases would have greased the wheels of the financial system to allow British banks to keep lending.'





Meanwhile another article in the SUnday TImes says that at the end of the year American again hits its statutory debt ceiling of 16.4 trillion dollars, and will be unable to borrow unless that ceiling is raised.

Not sure any of these dysfunctional systems will last this long. Let's see how today's eclipse, 21st's new moon and 6th June's Venus transit's energies might all play their parts energetically...

[Sabrina]

ZOZYkyQx4uw

BIX Weir: The JP Morgan Derivatives Book is Blowing Up

[ThePythonicCow]

BIX Weir: The JP Morgan Derivatives Book is Blowing Up
This talk appears to be focused on their gold and silver derivatives, but the subtitle "This is what a collapse looks & feels like" suggests it is leading to the final collapse of JP Morgan and/or the current monetary system.

JP Morgan's derivative book, I presume, has massively larger risks in mortgage securities, national debt, interest rates and foreign exchange rates. It is the collapse of that book that I anticipate will be the main event. That is still a few months to a few years out, by my crystal ball (cracked and bought second hand on eBay.)

[Sabrina]

Disaster say some commentators - inevitable say others... manufactured say others - this time next month where will we be!

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/21/business/quest-euro-exit/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

21 May

A Greece euro exit could make Lehman's collapse 'look like a tea party'

London (CNN) -- The wheels are coming off the wagon. The fat lady is about to sing. The proverbial is about to hit the fan. It doesn't matter which saying you use, the facts are inescapable. Greece's membership of the eurozone is untenable under the current conditions and everyone knows it. Some like Hungary's finance minister say openly Greece will leave the euro. The only question is what catalyst will force it out and when. The nearest deadline to hand is the country's June 17th elections, when the Greek voters will decide whether to support parties who will adhere to the bailout agreements or those who want to tear them up.

Private economists have gone into overdrive trying to work out what will happen. On Friday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch published "what if Greece Exits the Euro" describing the risk as "rising." Citigroup uses the word "probable" for an exit in certain circumstances while Barclays published "dealing with a potential Greek exit" and says "over the longer horizon the likelihood increases."

For the more circumspect euro politicians who have to manage this crisis, there are now well trodden formulae trotted out whenever Greece's euro-future is mentioned. It goes something like this: 1. We want Greece to stay in the euro. 2. Greece must abide by the terms of its agreements with lenders. 3. It is up to the Greek people how they will vote and if they remain in the euro. Think of it as the euro-dance....two steps forward one step back.

With the debt crisis unfolding: What does it mean to be Greek?
Some Europe officials have become truly expert at performing this dance. Olli Rehn, the European Union economics chief, reiterated it to me on Friday. And yet, I reason they must be contemplating what happens when the music stops and the euro-dance comes to an end. They read the same economics as the rest of us. They know that the Greek economy is deeply uncompetitive. The reforms need not only to continue, but speed up if Greece is not to remain on euro-life support forever. The only question is whether the Greek people are prepared to put up with the pain.

Each day there comes a new twist into the euro-dance. Last Friday it was the rumor that Mrs. Merkel had asked Greece to hold a simultaneous referendum with the election on euro-membership. The report came from Athens: Berlin denied it. Clearly one side or the other is playing high stakes hoping to force the issue.
full story at link[COLOR="red"]